Membrane Materials for Gas Separation and Wastewater Treatment: Design, Performance and Application

A special issue of Membranes (ISSN 2077-0375).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 August 2026 | Viewed by 1825

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
Interests: gas separation; wastewater treatment

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
Interests: advanced treatment and reuse of wastewater

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As global challenges of resource scarcity and environmental pollution intensify, membrane-based technologies have emerged as sustainable, high-efficiency solutions for both gas separation and wastewater remediation. Gas separation membranes enable cost-effective capture of greenhouse gases (e.g., CO2) and purification of valuable gases (e.g., H2, CH4), while advanced membrane systems offer promising pathways to treat complex wastewater streams—especially recalcitrant effluents like antibiotic wastewater. Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into membrane design further accelerates the development of high-performance materials, and membrane bioreactors (MBRs) have become a cornerstone for sustainable wastewater treatment.

We invite you to contribute to this Special Issue, “Membrane Materials for Gas Separation and Wastewater Treatment: Design, Performance and Application”. This Special Issue aims to showcase cutting-edge research on membrane innovation, bridging lab-scale development and real-world deployment. We welcome original research articles and reviews addressing (but not limited to) the following topics:

  • AI-assisted design and synthesis of membrane materials (for gas separation or wastewater treatment);
  • Membrane fabrication and performance characterization for industrial gas separation (e.g., CO2 capture, H₂ purification, biogas upgrading);
  • Membrane bioreactors for wastewater treatment (antibiotic wastewater, heavy metal wastewater, textile wastewater, etc.);
  • Advanced membrane processes for wastewater reclamation and resource recovery;
  • Membrane fouling control, long-term stability, and material regeneration strategies;
  • Techno-economic analysis and scale-up of membrane-based gas separation and wastewater treatment systems.

We look forward to receiving impactful contributions that drive the field forward.

Dr. Zhengda Lin
Prof. Dr. Jun Zhang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Membranes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • membrane materials
  • gas separation
  • wastewater treatment
  • AI-assisted membrane design
  • membrane bioreactors (MBRs)
  • antibiotic wastewater
  • CO2 capture
  • membrane fouling control
  • resource recovery
  • techno-economic analysis

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

34 pages, 8380 KB  
Review
Advances and Challenges in Aerobic Granular Sludge Membrane Bioreactors for Treating Sulfamethoxazole in Wastewater
by Qingyu Zhang, Bingjie Yan, Xinhao Sun, Zhengda Lin, Lu Liu, Haijuan Guo and Fang Ma
Membranes 2026, 16(4), 139; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes16040139 - 1 Apr 2026
Viewed by 1479
Abstract
Sulfamethoxazole (SMX) is one of the most frequently detected antibiotics in aquatic environments and is difficult to remove by conventional biological treatment because of its persistence, potential toxicity to microbial communities, and associated risk of antibiotic resistance selection. Aerobic granular sludge membrane bioreactors [...] Read more.
Sulfamethoxazole (SMX) is one of the most frequently detected antibiotics in aquatic environments and is difficult to remove by conventional biological treatment because of its persistence, potential toxicity to microbial communities, and associated risk of antibiotic resistance selection. Aerobic granular sludge membrane bioreactors (AGMBRs), which combine the compact and stratified structure of aerobic granular sludge with membrane-based solid–liquid separation, have emerged as a promising platform for SMX-contaminated wastewater treatment because they provide high biomass retention, decoupled sludge retention time (SRT) and hydraulic retention time (HRT), and stable effluent quality. This review systematically summarizes recent advances in AGMBRs for SMX removal, with emphasis on how operating parameters (e.g., dissolved oxygen, hydraulic retention time, organic loading rate, C/N ratio, and sludge retention time) and membrane-related factors (e.g., membrane flux, aeration-induced shear, membrane type, and pore size) affect treatment performance and process stability. The main SMX attenuation pathways in AGMBRs are discussed from three perspectives: sorption and partitioning within granules and extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs), microbial biodegradation and co-metabolism, and membrane retention that prolongs effective contact time and shapes microbial ecology. Particular attention is given to the dual role of EPS and soluble microbial products (SMPs), which contribute to granule stability and SMX tolerance but also accelerate membrane fouling through cake-layer formation, pore blocking, and transmembrane pressure increase. Current challenges include incomplete understanding of transformation products, ARG- and MGE-related risks, long-term fouling–biodegradation interactions, and the lack of pilot-scale validation. Future research should therefore focus on mechanism clarification, integrated control of removal and fouling, energy-efficient operation, and scale-up of AGMBRs for practical antibiotic wastewater treatment. Full article
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