Special Issue "Modeling, Simulation and Application of Membrane Processes for Water Treatment"

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Alejandro Ruiz García
E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Department of Electronic Engineering and Automation, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 35017 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain
Interests: desalination; reverse osmosis; fouling; wastewater; modelling; process control
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Dr. Mudhar Al-Obaidi
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Middle Technical University, Technical Institute of Baquba, Baquba, Dayala 00964, Iraq
Interests: modelling; simulation; optimisation of membrane technology; thermal technologies; hybrid systems for seawater; brackish water and wastewater treatment

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Water treatment is essential since it covers fundamental aspects such as the supply of drinking water, water for irrigation and industries, as well as the treatment of wastewater for its subsequent discharge. Membrane-based processes such as reverse osmosis, forward osmosis, pressure retarded osmosis, membrane distillation, nanofiltration, ultrafiltration, microfiltration, electrodialysis, membrane capacitive deionization, etc. are key in water treatment. Despite the efforts made, there is still room for improvement in aspects such as energy consumption, water flux recovery, environmental concerns and the impact of membrane fouling on the performance of the processes, these issues constitute some of the main obstacles for the implementation of membrane-based processes. The application of modelling and simulation techniques are key to overcome the previous barriers as they can provide optimal design and operation solutions as well as assist in the design of control systems that allow improving the performance of membrane processes for water treatment in terms of energy, economy and environment.

This Special Issue on "Modeling and Simulations of Membrane Processes for Water Treatment" aims to gather the foremost developments in methodologies, algorithms and advanced computer-aided tools to enhance water treatment systems. Modeling and simulation approaches embracing modelling of phenomena and simulation algorithm and methods that allow analyzing the response of systems, optimal system designs and operation. Manuscripts related to the above are welcomed to address the most challenging problems faced by the water industry today. Topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Water treatment powered by renewable energy
  • Water–energy nexus
  • Desalination systems
  • Urban and industrial wastewater treatment
  • Hybrid membrane processes for water treatment
  • Transport and process modelling in water treatment
  • Optimal operation of membrane processes for water treatment
  • Fouling and scaling in membrane processes for water treatment
  • Control of membrane processes in water treatment

Dr. Alejandro Ruiz García
Dr. Mudhar Al-Obaidi
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 papers will be 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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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 1800 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

  • Desalination
  • Wastewater treatment
  • Modelling and simulation
  • Renewable energy sources
  • Water–energy nexus
  • Membranes
  • Process control
  • Optimization

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

Article
Model Based Simulation and Genetic Algorithm Based Optimisation of Spiral Wound Membrane RO Process for Improved Dimethylphenol Rejection from Wastewater
Membranes 2021, 11(8), 595; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11080595 - 04 Aug 2021
Viewed by 435
Abstract
Reverse Osmosis (RO) has already proved its worth as an efficient treatment method in chemical and environmental engineering applications. Various successful RO attempts for the rejection of organic and highly toxic pollutants from wastewater can be found in the literature over the last [...] Read more.
Reverse Osmosis (RO) has already proved its worth as an efficient treatment method in chemical and environmental engineering applications. Various successful RO attempts for the rejection of organic and highly toxic pollutants from wastewater can be found in the literature over the last decade. Dimethylphenol is classified as a high-toxic organic compound found ubiquitously in wastewater. It poses a real threat to humans and the environment even at low concentration. In this paper, a model based framework was developed for the simulation and optimisation of RO process for the removal of dimethylphenol from wastewater. We incorporated our earlier developed and validated process model into the Species Conserving Genetic Algorithm (SCGA) based optimisation framework to optimise the design and operational parameters of the process. To provide a deeper insight of the process to the readers, the influences of membrane design parameters on dimethylphenol rejection, water recovery rate and the level of specific energy consumption of the process for two different sets of operating conditions are presented first which were achieved via simulation. The membrane parameters taken into consideration include membrane length, width and feed channel height. Finally, a multi-objective function is presented to optimise the membrane design parameters, dimethylphenol rejection and required energy consumption. Simulation results affirmed insignificant and significant impacts of membrane length and width on dimethylphenol rejection and specific energy consumption, respectively. However, these performance indicators are negatively influenced due to increasing the feed channel height. On the other hand, optimisation results generated an optimum removal of dimethylphenol at reduced specific energy consumption for a wide sets of inlet conditions. More importantly, the dimethylphenol rejection increased by around 2.51% to 98.72% compared to ordinary RO module measurements with a saving of around 20.6% of specific energy consumption. Full article
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