Towards the Circular Economy—Membrane Processes for the Recovery of Water and Nutrients from Wastewater

A special issue of Membranes (ISSN 2077-0375). This special issue belongs to the section "Membrane Processing and Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 April 2023) | Viewed by 19577

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Łukasiewicz Research Network, Institute for Sustainable Technologies, 26-600 Radom, Poland
Interests: wastewater treatment and closing water circuits using membrane techniques; surface functionalization of membranes and filtration materials; biochemical methods of conversion and management of industrial waste; biotechnological methods treatment of industrial wastewater
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Co-Guest Editor
Mineral and Energy Economy Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, 31-261 Cracow, Poland
Interests: green deal strategies; circular economy; raw materials; water and wastewater; nutrients; roadmaps; policy recommendations; indicators; life cycle assessment (LCA); sustainable development goals
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Co-Guest Editor
Institute of Environmental Engineering, Department of Water Protection and Management of Water Resources, Polish Academy of Sciences, M. Skłodowskiej-Curie 34 Street, 41-819 Zabrze, Poland
Interests: physicochemical methods of water and wastewater treatment (including specifically membrane techniques and their application in solving engineering and environmental protection problems, and adsorption and disinfection and their application in solving environmental engineering and protection problems, advances oxidation processes); analytics and occurrence of inorganic and organic micropollutants in environmental samples and their removal from the environment; study work on the use of nanotechnology in water and wastewater technology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Water covers 71% of the Earth's surface. Unfortunately, only about 1% of these resources are freshwater, our source of drinking water.

To meet the needs of the world’s growing population, there should be sufficient water available. Moreover, the current generation should take responsibility for ensuring the future needs of society of met, which constitutes the basis of sustainable development. This requires taking further initiatives to protect water resources, as well as to recover clean water from wastewater. One of the most promising methods for water recovery from wastewater are membrane processes. Membranes with different separation properties enable the recovery of high-quality water suitable for consumption as well as for use in many industries. In addition, membrane processes can be used to recover raw materials (e.g., nutrients, phosphorus), exemplifying a circular economy (CE). Compared to conventional water treatment methods, membrane techniques allow for the production of water of a consistent quality, do not require the use of additional chemicals and also enable energy savings, continuous separation and the enlargement of the technological scale in the modular system. The widespread interest in the use of membrane techniques for wastewater treatment has influenced the development of methods and materials for the production of membranes with improved functional properties enabling fouling control. When designing modern technological solutions, it is also necessary to manage wastes, including used membranes and concentrates of filtered liquid components. Thus, circular management and disposal of waste are strongly recommended in this area.

This Special Issue aims to provide an overview of the latest advances in the field of membrane solutions that represent the strategies of action for sustainable development by saving water resources and minimizing the release of industrial pollutant emissions into the natural environment.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

  • circular economy;
  • water reclamation;
  • nutrients recovery;
  • wastewater treatment;
  • membrane processes;
  • new types of membranes;
  • membrane manufacturing;
  • membrane fouling control.

Dr. Anna Kowalik-Klimczak
Prof. Dr. Marzena Smol
Prof. Dr. Michał Bodzek
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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 2700 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

  • circular economy
  • membrane processes
  • water
  • nutrients
  • wastewater

Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 1715 KiB  
Article
A Novel Hybrid Membrane Process Coupled with Freeze Concentration for Phosphorus Recovery from Cheese Whey
by Ipan Hidayat, Lidia Paredes, Pablo M. Binder, Nagore Guerra-Gorostegi, Mabel Mora, Sergio Ponsá, Darren L. Oatley-Radcliffe and Laia Llenas
Membranes 2023, 13(4), 450; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes13040450 - 21 Apr 2023
Viewed by 2121
Abstract
The ever-increasing demand for phosphorus fertilisers for securing global food production, coupled with finite phosphate rock reserves, is one of the emerging problems in the world. Indeed, phosphate rock is listed as an EU critical raw material, triggering attention to find an alternative [...] Read more.
The ever-increasing demand for phosphorus fertilisers for securing global food production, coupled with finite phosphate rock reserves, is one of the emerging problems in the world. Indeed, phosphate rock is listed as an EU critical raw material, triggering attention to find an alternative source to substitute the use of this limited resource. Cheese whey, characterized by a high content of organic matter and phosphorus, represents a promising feedstock for phosphorus recovery and recycling. An innovative application of a membrane system coupled with freeze concentration was assessed to recover phosphorus from cheese whey. The performances of a microfiltration membrane (0.2 µm) and an ultrafiltration (200 kDa) membrane were evaluated and optimized under different transmembrane pressures and crossflow velocities. Once the optimal operating conditions were determined, a pre-treatment including lactic acid acidification and centrifugation was applied to increase the permeate recovery. Finally, the efficiency of progressive freeze concentration for the treatment of the permeate obtained from the optimum conditions (UF 200 kDa with TMP of 3 bar, CFV of 1 m/s and lactic acid acidification) was evaluated at specific operating conditions (−5 °C and 600 rpm of stirring speed). Finally, 70% of phosphorus could be recovered from cheese whey using the coupled technology of the membrane system and freeze concentration. A phosphorus-rich product was obtained with high agronomic value, which constitutes a further step towards establishing a broader circular economy framework. Full article
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15 pages, 3872 KiB  
Article
Microfiltration Membranes Modified with Zinc by Plasma Treatment
by Joanna Kacprzyńska-Gołacka, Monika Łożyńska, Wioletta Barszcz, Sylwia Sowa and Piotr Wieciński
Membranes 2023, 13(4), 387; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes13040387 - 28 Mar 2023
Viewed by 1361
Abstract
Polymer membranes play an important role in various filtration processes. The modification of a polyamide membrane surface by one-component Zn and ZnO coatings and two-component Zn/ZnO coatings is presented in this work. The technological parameters of the Magnetron Sputtering-Physical Vapor Deposition method (MS-PVD) [...] Read more.
Polymer membranes play an important role in various filtration processes. The modification of a polyamide membrane surface by one-component Zn and ZnO coatings and two-component Zn/ZnO coatings is presented in this work. The technological parameters of the Magnetron Sputtering-Physical Vapor Deposition method (MS-PVD) for the coatings deposition process show an impact on the influence on the membrane’s surface structure, chemical composition, and functional properties. The characterization of surface structure and morphology were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy. In addition, surface roughness and wettability measurements were also made. For checking the antibacterial activity, the two representative strains of bacteria Escherichia coli (Gram-negative) and Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive) were used. The filtration tests showed that polyamide membranes covered with three types of coatings, one-component Zn coatings, ZnO coatings, and two-component Zn/ZnO coatings, presented similar properties. The obtained results show that using the MS-PVD method for modification of the membrane’s surface is a very promising perspective in the prevention of biofouling. Full article
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13 pages, 9333 KiB  
Article
Circular Economy Approach in Treatment of Galvanic Wastewater Employing Membrane Processes
by Anna Kowalik-Klimczak, Anna Gajewska-Midziałek, Zofia Buczko, Monika Łożyńska, Maciej Życki, Wioletta Barszcz, Tinatin Ciciszwili, Adrian Dąbrowski, Sonia Kasierot, Jadwiga Charasińska and Tadeusz Gorewoda
Membranes 2023, 13(3), 325; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes13030325 - 11 Mar 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2194
Abstract
According to the idea of sustainable development, humanity should make every effort to care for the natural environment along with economic development. Decreasing water resources in the world makes it necessary to take action to reduce the consumption of this resource. This article [...] Read more.
According to the idea of sustainable development, humanity should make every effort to care for the natural environment along with economic development. Decreasing water resources in the world makes it necessary to take action to reduce the consumption of this resource. This article presents the results of research conducted to improve the use of recyclable materials in line with the circular economy model. The research focused on the development of a technological solution for the recovery of raw materials from galvanic wastewater. The concept of a galvanic wastewater treatment system presented in the article includes wastewater pre-treatment in the ultrafiltration (UF) process and water recovery in the reverse osmosis (RO) process. In addition, the purpose of the work was to manage post-filtration waste (RO retentate) containing high concentrations of zinc in the process of galvanizing metal details. The obtained results indicate that it is possible to reduce the amount of sewage from the galvanizing industry by reusing the recovered water as technical water in the process line. The carried-out model tests of galvanizing confirmed the possibility of using RO retentate for the production of metal parts. The achieved results are a proposal to solve the problem of reducing the impact of galvanic wastewater on the environment and to improve the profitability of existing galvanizing technologies by reducing the consumption of water and raw materials. Full article
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14 pages, 13241 KiB  
Article
Mechanism of Chromium Separation and Concentration from Tannery Wastewater by Membrane Methods
by Paweł Religa and Bernadetta Kaźmierczak
Membranes 2023, 13(3), 295; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes13030295 - 28 Feb 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1393
Abstract
The article specifies conditions for a nanofiltration process employing a diafiltration method with a constant volume diafiltration (NF-CVD) for exhausted chromium tannery wastewater treatment and describes a mechanism of the examined process carried out for model wastewater. The authors prove that a decrease [...] Read more.
The article specifies conditions for a nanofiltration process employing a diafiltration method with a constant volume diafiltration (NF-CVD) for exhausted chromium tannery wastewater treatment and describes a mechanism of the examined process carried out for model wastewater. The authors prove that a decrease in salt concentration in the NF-CVD process is an important factor that enables effective concentration of chromium. Based on the proposed chromium separation and concentration mechanisms, it was found that this effect may be achieved by (1) limiting the formation of an ionic adsorption–polarization layer and (2) reducing the increase in the osmotic pressure caused by a change in the separation properties of the membrane. The article shows that in the analyzed system a higher amount of the solvent introduced at the diafiltration stage and a lower process pressure that ensures a reduction in salt retention translate to a high level of salt removal. In regenerates, after the NF-CVD processes in which at least the same volume of a washing diluent as the volume of the retentate after the pre-concentration step was used, salt concentration below 10 g L−1 and chromium concentration about three times higher than in the case of the feed solution were obtained. Therefore, the proposed solution implements the circular economy strategy in the tannery. Full article
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19 pages, 7068 KiB  
Article
Life Cycle, PESTLE and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis of Membrane Contactor-Based Nitrogen Recovery Process
by Judit Nagy, Huyen Trang Do Thi and Andras Jozsef Toth
Membranes 2023, 13(1), 87; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes13010087 - 10 Jan 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2323
Abstract
Nitrogen is one of the most critical nutrients in the biosphere, and it is an essential nutrient for plant growth. Nitrogen exists in the atmosphere vastly as a gaseous form, but only reactive nitrogen is usable for plants. It is a valuable resource [...] Read more.
Nitrogen is one of the most critical nutrients in the biosphere, and it is an essential nutrient for plant growth. Nitrogen exists in the atmosphere vastly as a gaseous form, but only reactive nitrogen is usable for plants. It is a valuable resource and worth recovering in the wastewater sector. The aim of this work was to prepare a comprehensive environmental analysis of a novel membrane contactor-based process, which is capable of highly efficient nitrogen removal from wastewater. Life cycle assessment (LCA), PESTLE and multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) were applied to evaluate the process. The EF 3.0 method, preferred by the European Commission, IMPACT World+, ReCiPe 2016 and IPCC 2021 GWP100 methods were used with six different energy resources—electricity high voltage, solar, nuclear, heat and power and wind energy. The functional unit of 1 m3 of water product was considered as output and “gate-to-gate” analysis was examined. The results of our study show that renewable energy resources cause a significantly lower environmental load than traditional energy resources. TOPSIS score was used to evaluate the alternatives in the case of MCDA. For the EU region, the most advantageous option was found to be wind energy onshore with a score of 0.76, and the following, nuclear, was 0.70. Full article
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10 pages, 2071 KiB  
Article
Novel PVDF-PEG-CaCO3 Membranes to Achieve the Objectives of the Water Circular Economy by Removing Pharmaceuticals from the Aquatic Environment
by Maciej Szwast, Daniel Polak, Wiktoria Arciszewska and Izabela Zielińska
Membranes 2023, 13(1), 44; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes13010044 - 29 Dec 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1428
Abstract
In the aquatic environment, substances of pharmacological origin are common contaminants. The difficulty of removing them from water is a problem for the implementation of a circular economy policy. When recycling water, an effort should be made to remove, or at least, minimize [...] Read more.
In the aquatic environment, substances of pharmacological origin are common contaminants. The difficulty of removing them from water is a problem for the implementation of a circular economy policy. When recycling water, an effort should be made to remove, or at least, minimize the presence of these substances in the water. Porous membranes with a new functionality consisting in their adsorption capacity towards pharmaceutical substances have been developed. A Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) membrane with Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3) nanoparticles as an adsorbent was prepared. By implementing an integrated filtration-adsorption process using sulphadiazine, as a representative of pharmacological substances, 57 mg/m2 of adsorption capacity has been obtained, which is an improvement in adsorption properties of more than 50 times that of a commercial membrane. At the same time the membrane permeability is 0.29 m3/(h·m2·bar), which means that the membrane’s permeability was improved by 75%. Full article
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13 pages, 3654 KiB  
Article
Application of an Integrated System of Thermal Pressure Hydrolysis/Membrane Techniques to Recover Chromium from Tannery Waste for Reuse in Hide Tanning Processes
by Anna Kowalik-Klimczak, Maciej Życki, Monika Łożyńska, Christian Schadewell, Thomas Fiehn, Bogusław Woźniak and Monika Flisek
Membranes 2023, 13(1), 18; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes13010018 - 23 Dec 2022
Viewed by 1833
Abstract
This paper presents the results of research on a new method of chromium recovery from solid waste generated during the tanning of raw hides. In the first stage, the shredded mixture of useless leather scraps is decomposed through thermal pressure hydrolysis (TPH) in [...] Read more.
This paper presents the results of research on a new method of chromium recovery from solid waste generated during the tanning of raw hides. In the first stage, the shredded mixture of useless leather scraps is decomposed through thermal pressure hydrolysis (TPH) in nitric acid in appropriate process conditions. Then, the liquid product of this process (hydrolysate) is fractionated using membrane separation techniques. The microfiltration (MF) process enables the initial purification of the hydrolysate by concentrating the organic matter. On the other hand, the nanofiltration (NF) process enables a three-fold concentration of total chromium in the pre-purified hydrolysate. The total chromium concentrate prepared in the above manner was successfully used in the model tanning processes. These processes were carried out on pickled bovine hides, using a mixture of a commercial chromium tanning agent and chromium concentrate after nanofiltration. The reference sample was bovine hide traditionally tanned with a commercial chromium tanning agent. Based on the results of the physical and chemical analyses, it was found that the properties of hides tanned using chromium recovered from waste are similar to those of hides tanned traditionally using a commercially available chromium tanning agent. The industrial implementation of the developed tannery waste valorisation technology would enable transition from a linear economy to circular economy. Full article
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11 pages, 1664 KiB  
Article
Improving the Performance of a Salt Production Plant by Using Nanofiltration as a Pretreatment
by Marian Turek, Krzysztof Mitko, Paweł Skóra, Piotr Dydo, Agata Jakóbik-Kolon, Aleksa Warzecha and Klaudia Tyrała
Membranes 2022, 12(12), 1191; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12121191 - 25 Nov 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1997
Abstract
The Dębieńsko plant in Czerwionka-Leszczyny, Poland, producing evaporated salt from the saline mine water, faces increasing operating costs due to its high energy consumption. To improve the performance of the plant, a two-pass nanofiltration with intermediate crystallization of gypsum was proposed as a [...] Read more.
The Dębieńsko plant in Czerwionka-Leszczyny, Poland, producing evaporated salt from the saline mine water, faces increasing operating costs due to its high energy consumption. To improve the performance of the plant, a two-pass nanofiltration with intermediate crystallization of gypsum was proposed as a pretreatment. Based on the results of pilot-scale research, it was found that the removal of most of the calcium, magnesium, and sulfate allows a substantial reduction in the concentration of these components in the concentrated brine, which is then directed to a sodium chloride crystallization evaporator. This makes it possible to increase salt yield from the current 58.8% to 76.1% and indirectly reduce energy consumption from 1350 kWh/t to 1068 kWh/t. At the same time, the volume of the highly saline post-crystallization lyes is decreased by 66%, and a new stream is obtained: a Mg-rich solution, which could be used for magnesium hydroxide recovery. Full article
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15 pages, 2828 KiB  
Article
On-Site Application of Solar-Activated Membrane (Cr–Mn-Doped TiO2@Graphene Oxide) for the Rapid Degradation of Toxic Textile Effluents
by Maryam Yousaf, Mariam Akram, Ijaz Ahmad Bhatti, Muhammad Ahmad, Muhammad Usman, Muhammad Usman Khan, Abid Sarwar, Muhammad Sultan and Ihsanullah Sohoo
Membranes 2022, 12(12), 1178; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12121178 - 23 Nov 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1479
Abstract
Solar-activated water treatment has become an emerging research field due to its eco-friendly nature and the economic feasibility of green photocatalysis. Herein, we synthesized promising, cost-effective, and ultralong-semiconductor TiO2 nanowires (NW), with the aim to degrade toxic azo dyes. The band gap [...] Read more.
Solar-activated water treatment has become an emerging research field due to its eco-friendly nature and the economic feasibility of green photocatalysis. Herein, we synthesized promising, cost-effective, and ultralong-semiconductor TiO2 nanowires (NW), with the aim to degrade toxic azo dyes. The band gap of TiO2 NW was tuned through transition metals, i.e., chromium (Cr) and manganese (Mn), and narrowed by conjugation with high surface area graphene oxide (GO) sheets. Cr–Mn-doped TiO2 NWs were chemically grafted onto GO nanosheets and polymerized with sodium alginate to form a mesh network with an excellent band gap (2.6 eV), making it most suitable to act as a solar photocatalytic membrane. Cr–Mn-doped TiO2 NW @GO aerogels possess high purity and crystallinity confirmed by Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction pattern. A Cr–Mn-doped TiO2 NW @GO aerogels membrane was tested for the photodegradation of Acid Black 1 (AB 1) dye. The synthesized photocatalytic membrane in the solar photocatalytic reactor at conditions optimized by response surface methodology (statistical model) and upon exposure to solar radiation (within 180 min) degraded 100% (1.44 kg/m3/day) AB 1dye into simpler hydrocarbons, confirmed by the disappearance of dye color and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. An 80% reduction in water quality parameters defines Cr–Mn-doped TiO2 NW @GO aerogels as a potential photocatalytic membrane to degrade highly toxic pollutants. Full article
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16 pages, 4086 KiB  
Article
Enhancing the Ammonia Selectivity by Using Nanofiber PVDF Composite Membranes Fabricated with Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes
by Man Xiao, Yu Shang, Long Ji, Mingwei Yan, Feng Chen, Qingyao He and Shuiping Yan
Membranes 2022, 12(11), 1164; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12111164 - 19 Nov 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1611
Abstract
Conventional hydrophobic membrane-based membrane distillation (MD) has been applied for ammonia recovery from an anaerobic digestion (AD) effluent. However, the typical hydrophobic membranes do not have selectivity for ammonia and water vapor, which results in high energy consumption from the water evaporation. To [...] Read more.
Conventional hydrophobic membrane-based membrane distillation (MD) has been applied for ammonia recovery from an anaerobic digestion (AD) effluent. However, the typical hydrophobic membranes do not have selectivity for ammonia and water vapor, which results in high energy consumption from the water evaporation. To enhance the selectivity during the ammonia recovery process, the functionalized carbon nanotubes (CNTs)/polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) nanofiber membranes were fabricated by electrospinning, and the effects of different CNTs and their contents on the performance of nanofiber membranes were investigated. The results indicate that CNTs can be successfully incorporated into nanofibers by electrospinning. The contact angles of the composite membrane are all higher than those of commercial membrane, and the highest value 138° can be obtained. Most importantly, under the condition of no pH adjustment, the ammonia nitrogen transfer coefficient reaches the maximum value of 3.41 × 10−6 m/s, which is about twice higher than that of commercial membranes. The ammonia separation factor of the carboxylated CNT (C-CNT) composite membrane is higher than that of the hydroxylated CNT(H-CNT) composite membrane. Compared with the application of the novel C-CNT composite membrane, the ammonia separation factor is 47% and 25% higher than that of commercial and neat PVDF membranes. This work gives a novel approach for enhancing ammonia and water selectivity during AD effluent treatment. Full article
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