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Membrane Separation Process in Wastewater and Water Purification

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2021) | Viewed by 18356

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Andréa Moura Bernardes

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Guest Editor

Post-Graduation Programme in Mining, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering (PPGE3M), Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Av. Bento Gonçalves, n. 9500, Agronomia, Porto Alegre CEP 91509-900, RS, Brazil
Interests: water reuse; electrodialysis; membrane electrolysis; desalination; pressure driven membrane processes; membrane distillation; emerging organic contaminants; advanced oxidation processes
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Dr. Alexandre Giacobbo

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Guest Editor

Post-Graduation Program in Mining, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, (PPGE3M), Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Av. Bento Gonçalves, n. 9500, Agronomia, Porto Alegre CEP 91509–900, RS, Brazil
Interests: water and wastewater treatment; membrane technology; resources recovery; water reuse
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The current scenario of increasing water scarcity and degradation of water bodies has led to the development of processes and technologies that provide more suitable treatment for both water and wastewater. Among the possible technologies used, membrane separation processes (MSPs) such as microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF), reverse osmosis (RO), electrodialysis (ED), and membrane distillation (MD) have gained prominence compared to other technologies, since the MSPs provide greater security to the treatment. In addition, in the case of wastewater treatment, depending on the technology adopted, it is still possible to obtain high-quality water, that can be reused in different activities, as well as the recovery of resources from the wastewater.

Therefore, this Special Issue aims to cover recent developments and advances in all aspects related to Membrane Separation Process in Wastewater and Water Purification, including but not limited to membrane-based processes for pure and ultrapure water obtaining, treatment of brines and hypersaline solutions, development of new materials for water or wastewater purification, process development/integration for wastewater and water purification, concentration polarization and fouling, recovery of water and resources.

Both original research and review papers are welcome.

Prof. Andréa Moura Bernardes
Dr. Alexandre Giacobbo
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 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 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

Pure and ultrapure water
Brines and hypersaline solutions
Membrane preparation for wastewater and water purification
Process development/integration for wastewater and water purification
Concentration polarization and fouling
Recovery of water and resources
Circular economy

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Editorial

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3 pages, 224 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Membrane Separation Process in Wastewater and Water Purification

by Alexandre Giacobbo and Andréa Moura Bernardes

Membranes 2022, 12(3), 259; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12030259 - 24 Feb 2022

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2340

Abstract

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane Separation Process in Wastewater and Water Purification)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

11 pages, 1248 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Effect of pH on Atenolol/Nanofiltration Membranes Affinity

by Elisa Veridiani Soares, Alexandre Giacobbo, Marco Antônio Siqueira Rodrigues, Maria Norberta de Pinho and Andréa Moura Bernardes

Membranes 2021, 11(9), 689; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11090689 - 6 Sep 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1847

Abstract

Nanofiltration has been shown to be effective in removing pharmaceutical compounds from water and wastewater, so different mechanisms can influence treatment performance. In the present work, we carried out a case study evaluating the performance of two nanofiltration membranes in the removal of Atenolol (ATN)—a pharmaceutical compound widely used for the treatment of arterial hypertension—under different conditions such as operating pressure, ATN concentration, and solution pH. By determining the B parameter, which quantifies the solute/membrane affinity, we verified that the solution pH influenced the performance of the membranes, promoting attraction or repulsion between the ATN and the membranes. At pH 2.5, both membranes and ATN were positively charged, causing electrostatic repulsion, showing lower values of the B parameter and, consequently, higher ATN rejections. At such a pH, the mean ATN rejection for the loose membrane (NF270) was 82%, while for the tight membrane (NF90) it was 88%. On the other hand, at 12 bar pressure, the NF70 membrane (5.1 × 10 ⁻⁵ m s⁻¹) presented mean permeate fluxes about 2.8 times greater than the NF90 membrane (1.8 × 10⁻⁵ m s⁻¹), indicating that NF270 is the most suitable membrane for this application. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane Separation Process in Wastewater and Water Purification)

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16 pages, 3982 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Application of Coagulation–Membrane Rotation to Improve Ultrafiltration Performance in Drinking Water Treatment

by Hongjian Yu, Weipeng Huang, Huachen Liu, Tian Li, Nianping Chi, Huaqiang Chu and Bingzhi Dong

Membranes 2021, 11(8), 643; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11080643 - 21 Aug 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2835

Abstract

The combination of conventional and advanced water treatment is now widely used in drinking water treatment. However, membrane fouling is still the main obstacle to extend its application. In this study, the impact of the combination of coagulation and ultrafiltration (UF) membrane rotation on both fouling control and organic removal of macro (sodium alginate, SA) and micro organic matters (tannic acid, TA) was studied comprehensively to evaluate its applicability in drinking water treatment. The results indicated that membrane rotation could generate shear stress and vortex, thus effectively reducing membrane fouling of both SA and TA solutions, especially for macro SA organics. With additional coagulation, the membrane fouling could be further reduced through the aggregation of mediate and macro organic substances into flocs and elimination by membrane retention. For example, with the membrane rotation speed of 60 r/min, the permeate flux increased by 90% and the organic removal by 35% in SA solution, with 40 mg/L coagulant dosage, with an additional 70% increase of flux and 5% increment of organic removal to 80% obtained. However, too much shear stress could intensify the potential of fiber breakage at the potting, destroying the flocs and resulting in the reduction of permeate flux and deterioration of effluent quality. Finally, the combination of coagulation and membrane rotation would lead to the shaking of the cake layer, which is beneficial for fouling mitigation and prolongation of membrane filtration lifetime. This study provides useful information on applying the combined process of conventional coagulation and the hydrodynamic shear force for drinking water treatment, which can be further explored in the future. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane Separation Process in Wastewater and Water Purification)

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15 pages, 4652 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fabrication of Cementitious Microfiltration Membrane and Its Catalytic Ozonation for the Removal of Small Molecule Organic Pollutants

by Jingyi Sun, Shan Liu, Jing Kang, Zhonglin Chen, Liming Cai, Yuhao Guo, Jimin Shen and Zhe Wang

Membranes 2021, 11(7), 532; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11070532 - 14 Jul 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1965

Abstract

In this study, a low-cost cementitious microfiltration membrane (CM) with a catalytic ozone oxidation function for the removal of organic pollutants was fabricated by using cementitious and C-10 μm silica powders at a certain silica–cementitious particle ratio (s/c). The effect of the s/c on the pore size distribution and mechanical strength of the membrane was investigated. The membrane pore size showed a bimodal distribution, and the higher the s/c, the closer the second peak was to the accumulated average particle size of silica. The increase in the s/c led to a decrease in the bending strength of the membrane. The cross-sectional morphology by SEM and crystal structure by XRD of CMs confirmed that a calcium silicate hydrate gel was generated around the silica powder to improve the mechanical strength of the CM. Considering the bending strength and pore size distribution of CMs, s/c = 0.5 was selected as the optimal membrane fabrication condition. The FT-IR results characterizing the surface functional groups of CMs were rich in surface hydroxyl groups with the ability to catalyze ozone oxidation for organic pollutant removal. Six small molecule organic pollutants were selected as model compounds for the efficiency experiments via a CM–ozone coupling process to prove the catalytic property of the CM. The CM has an alkaline buffering effect and can stabilize the initial pH of the solution in the catalytic ozonation process. The reuse experiments of the CM–ozone coupling process demonstrated the broad spectrum of the CM catalytic performance and self-cleaning properties. The results of this study provide the basis and experimental support to expand the practical application of CMs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane Separation Process in Wastewater and Water Purification)

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14 pages, 267 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Study of the Ecological Footprint and Carbon Footprint in a Reverse Osmosis Sea Water Desalination Plant

by Federico Leon, Alejandro Ramos-Martin and Sebastian Ovidio Perez-Baez

Membranes 2021, 11(6), 377; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11060377 - 21 May 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2657

Abstract

The water situation in the Canary Islands has been a historical problem that has been sought to be solved in various ways. After years of work, efforts have focused on desalination of seawater to provide safe water mainly to citizens, agriculture, and tourism. Due to the high demand in the Islands, the Canary Islands was a pioneering place in the world in desalination issues, allowing the improvement of the techniques and materials used. There are a wide variety of technologies for desalination water, but nowadays the most used is reverse osmosis. Desalination has a negative part, the energy costs of producing desalinated water are high. To this we add the peculiarities of the electricity generation system in the Canary Islands, which generates more emissions per unit of energy produced compared to the peninsular generation system. In this study we have selected a desalination plant located on the island of Tenerife, specifically in the municipality of Granadilla de Abona, and once its technical characteristics have been known, the ecological footprint has been calculated. To do this we have had to perform some calculations such as the capacity to fix carbon dioxide per hectare in the Canary Islands, as well as the total calculation of the emissions produced in the generation of energy to feed the desalination plant. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane Separation Process in Wastewater and Water Purification)

16 pages, 12443 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Direct Purification of Digestate Using Ultrafiltration Membranes: Influence of Pore Size on Filtration Behavior and Fouling Characteristics

by Caide Yue, Hongmin Dong, Yongxing Chen, Bin Shang, Yi Wang, Shunli Wang and Zhiping Zhu

Membranes 2021, 11(3), 179; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11030179 - 3 Mar 2021

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2331

Abstract

Ultrafiltration (UF) can effectively remove large particles, suspended solids, and colloidal substances from anaerobic digestate. However, membrane fouling is a technical challenge in the purification of the digestate by UF. In this study, polyethersulfone (PES) membranes with four pore sizes (50.0, 20.0, 10.0 and 5.0 kDa) were employed to filter anaerobic digestate from swine manure. The effects of temperature, transmembrane pressure (TMP), and cross-flow velocity (CFV) on flux were investigated. The purification effects and fouling characteristics of the four membranes were analyzed. The results revealed that the increase of temperature and CFV can effectively promote UF separation efficiency, but as the TMP exceeded 3.0 bar, the flux increase rates of the four membranes were almost zero. The larger membrane pore size caused the faster flux increase with the increase in pressure. During the batch experiment, the 20.0 kDa membrane showed the lowest flux maintenance ability, while the 5.0 kDa showed the highest ability due to the smaller pore size. All four membranes can effectively remove tetracyclines residues. Elements C, O, and S were the major membrane foulant elements. The dominant bacteria orders of membrane fouling were Pseudomonadales, Xanthomonadales and Burkholderiales. Compared with tap water and citric acid, the membrane cleaning by NaOH and NaClO showed higher flux recovery rates. The 50.0 kDa membrane achieved the best cleaning effects under all cleaning methods. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane Separation Process in Wastewater and Water Purification)

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23 pages, 9697 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Oily Water Separation Process Using Hydrocyclone of Porous Membrane Wall: A Numerical Investigation

by Sirlene A. Nunes, Hortência L. F. Magalhães, Ricardo S. Gomez, Anderson F. Vilela, Maria J. Figueiredo, Rosilda S. Santos, Fagno D. Rolim, Rodrigo A. A. Souza, Severino R. de Farias Neto and Antonio G. B. Lima

Membranes 2021, 11(2), 79; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11020079 - 22 Jan 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3282

Abstract

This research aims to study the process of separating water contaminated with oil using a hydrocyclone with a porous wall (membrane), containing two tangential inlets and two concentric outlets (concentrate and permeate), at the base of the equipment. For the study, the computational fluid dynamics technique was used in a Eulerian–Eulerian approach to solve the mass and linear momentum conservation equations and the turbulence model. The effects of the concentration polarization layer thickness and membrane rejection coefficient on the permeate flow, hydrodynamic behavior of the fluids inside the hydrocyclone, and equipment performance were evaluated. Results of the velocity, transmembrane pressure and oil concentration profiles along the equipment, and hydrocyclone performance are presented and analyzed. The results confirmed the effect of the membrane rejection coefficient on the equipment performance and the high potential of the hydrocyclone with a porous wall to be used in the oil–water mixture separation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane Separation Process in Wastewater and Water Purification)

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