Membrane Fouling in Water/Wastewater Treatment: Characterization, Modeling and Control

Dear Colleagues,

Membrane technology plays a vital role in water and wastewater treatment. A variety of membrane processes have sprung up, including low-pressure (e.g., microfiltration and ultrafiltration), high-pressure (e.g., nanofiltration and reverse osmosis), electrically driven (e.g., electrodialysis), osmotically driven (e.g., forward osmosis) and temperature-driven (e.g., membrane distillation) processes. However, their development is seriously challenged by the membrane fouling problem, which impedes the separation and makes the process energy-intensive. Foulants with various compositions can interact with the membrane material, block the pores or cover the surface. The fouling phenomena might be described under universal laws, or be specific to the detailed membrane/foulant materials or membrane processes. It is of great importance to scientifically describe, understand, predict and control fouling for the future development and application of membrane processes in the field of water/wastewater treatment.

This Special Issue aims to cover recent developments and advances in all aspects of membrane fouling in water/wastewater treatment, including, but not limited to:

1. Characterization: Observing and understanding the fouling phenomena, processes and factors using advanced physical, chemical, biological, spectroscopic and statistical analyses, and developing new methods for fouling analysis and evaluation;
2. Modeling: Describing and predicting the fouling effects, interactions and tendencies using analytical/numerical models (including theoretical and empirical models), computational fluid dynamics, computational chemistry tools (e.g., molecular dynamics and molecular/quantum mechanics) and statistical tools (e.g., neutral networks and machine learning);
3. Control: Novel approaches and their applications to fouling control including advances in membrane materials/modules/processes, foulant pretreatment/conditioning/cleaning and process optimization toward energy-efficient fouling mitigation.

Authors are invited to submit their latest results; both original papers and reviews are welcome.

Dr. Kang Xiao
Dr. Chun-Hai Wei
Dr. Zhongbo Zhou
Guest Editors

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