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Polymers
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Advanced Polymeric Membranes for Wastewater Reclamation and Water Purification II
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Advanced Polymeric Membranes for Wastewater Reclamation and Water Purification II

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Membranes and Films".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2025 | Viewed by 4379

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Alfredo Cassano

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute on Membrane Technology, ITM-CNR, 87036 Rende, Italy
Interests: membranes and integrated membrane operations in agro-food production; pressure-driven membrane operations; membrane distillation and osmotic distillation; membrane fouling; food processing; food science and technology; bioactive compounds; phenolic compounds; proteins; peptides; agri-food by-products valorization; circular economy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Owing to the rapid growth of the global population and industrialization, the human race will inevitably suffer from a catastrophic water shortage if no effort is made to search for alternative, safe water resources. Hence, researchers have conducted intensive studies investigating the potential to reclaim wastewater and purify stormwater or seawater as water sources for municipal applications via various membrane technologies.

Membrane separation technology, which utilizes polymeric membranes, is the most sustainable and effective way to solve this vital problem due to its advantages in terms of efficiency and energy conservation. As the polymers utilized in the production of membranes can be synthesized easily, the optimal membrane performance can be achieved in a chosen process environment. Various new membrane types have been developed in membrane technology, such as nanocomposite, photocatalytic, adsorptive, and biomimetic membranes. Novel polymeric materials, including dendronized, ionic, and solvent-resistant polymers, have also been reported to improve the properties of membranes.

This Special Issue is focused on the latest fundamental and applied research in polymeric membrane technologies, including, but not limited to, the synthesis of novel membrane materials, membrane modifications, and advanced membrane processes.

We hereby invite you to submit research articles or reviews of the latest research that could present innovative findings and breakthroughs in polymeric membrane science.

Dr. Alfredo Cassano
Guest Editor

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. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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

  • desalination
  • water treatment
  • membrane
  • filtration
  • separation
  • antimicrobial
  • antifouling
  • interfacial polymerization
  • novel polymer materials

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

30 pages, 25193 KiB  
Article
Effect of Promising Sustainable Nano-Reinforcements on Polysulfone/Polyvinylpyrrolidone-Based Membranes: Enhancing Mechanical Properties and Water Filtration Performance
by Seren Acarer Arat, İnci Pir, Mertol Tüfekci, Nurtaç Öz and Neşe Tüfekci
Polymers 2024, 16(24), 3531; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16243531 - 18 Dec 2024
Viewed by 1013
Abstract
In this study, polysulfone/polyvinylpyrrolidone (PSf/PVP, 20 wt%/5 wt%)-based ultrafiltration (UF) membranes reinforced with different ratios (0.5 and 1 wt%) of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and cellulose nanofibres (CNFs) were prepared by the phase inversion method. The effect of CNC, CNF, and CNC-CNF reinforcement on [...] Read more.
In this study, polysulfone/polyvinylpyrrolidone (PSf/PVP, 20 wt%/5 wt%)-based ultrafiltration (UF) membranes reinforced with different ratios (0.5 and 1 wt%) of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and cellulose nanofibres (CNFs) were prepared by the phase inversion method. The effect of CNC, CNF, and CNC-CNF reinforcement on the morphology, roughness, crystallinity, porosity, average pore size, mechanical properties, and filtration performance of PSf/PVP-based membrane was investigated. Distilled water and surface water (lake water) fluxes of the membranes were determined at 3 bar using a dead-end filtration system. The distilled water flux of the fouled–hydraulic cleaned membranes was determined, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of the fouled–cleaned membranes were examined. The flux recovery ratio (FRR) and fouling parameters were calculated to examine the fouling behaviour of the membranes. The mechanical properties of the membranes were modelled by the Mori–Tanaka, finite element, Voigt–Reuss, self-consistent scheme, and Halpin–Tsai methods using Digimat and/or analytically. In addition, the von Mises equivalent stress distributions of the nanocomposites were presented. Among the investigated membranes, PSf/PVP/CNC-0.5 had the highest distilled water flux (475.5 ± 17.77 L/m2.h), PSf/PVP/CNF-1 exhibited the stiffest behaviour with an elasticity modulus of 70.63 ± 3.15 MPa, and PSf/PVP/CNC-1 had the best organic matter removal efficiency. The finite element was the most successful modelling method for estimating the mechanical properties of nanocellulose-reinforced flat sheet membranes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Polymeric Membranes for Wastewater Reclamation and Water Purification II)
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18 pages, 4115 KiB  
Article
An Assessment of the Catalytic and Adsorptive Performances of Cellulose Acetate-Based Composite Membranes for Oil/Water Emulsion Separation
by Mahendran Gurusamy, Sangeetha Thangavel, Jakub Čespiva, Jiří Ryšavý, Wei-Mon Yan, Marek Jadlovec and Gangasalam Arthanareeswaran
Polymers 2024, 16(22), 3108; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16223108 - 5 Nov 2024
Viewed by 1135
Abstract
Cellulose acetate (CA) mixed-matrix membranes incorporating polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), bentonite (B or Ben), graphene oxide (GO), and titanium dioxide (TiO2) were prepared by the phase inversion separation technique for oil/water separation. An investigation was performed where the mixed-matrix membrane was tested for [...] Read more.
Cellulose acetate (CA) mixed-matrix membranes incorporating polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), bentonite (B or Ben), graphene oxide (GO), and titanium dioxide (TiO2) were prepared by the phase inversion separation technique for oil/water separation. An investigation was performed where the mixed-matrix membrane was tested for the separation performance of hydrophilic and hydrophobic surface properties. An ultrafiltration experiment at the laboratory scale was used to test dead-end ultrafiltration models developed for the treatment performances of oily wastewater under dynamic full-scale operating conditions. Artificial oily wastewater solutions were prepared from hexane, toluene, and engine oil with Tween80 emulsions for oil removal treatment using composite membranes. The impacts of material hydrophilicity, weight loss, permeability, and pore size were investigated, and it was found that the oil retention of membranes with larger pore sizes enabled much more sophisticated water flux. The CA-GO-, CA-B-, and CA-TiO2-incorporated membranes achieved pure water flux (PWF) values of 45.19, 53.41, and 100.25 L/m2h, respectively. The performance of CA-TiO2 in oil/water emulsion rejection was assessed, and the rejection of engine oil/water, toluene/water, and hexane/water mixtures was determined to be 95.21%, 90.33%, and 92.4%, respectively. The CA-based mixed-matrix membrane portrayed better antifouling properties due to enhanced hydrophilicity and water molecules. The CA-TiO2-incorporated membrane possessed the potential to provide high separation efficiency for oily wastewater treatment. This study demonstrates the potential of fine-tuning membrane performances through material hybridization to achieve efficient wastewater treatment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Polymeric Membranes for Wastewater Reclamation and Water Purification II)
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12 pages, 3638 KiB  
Article
Hybridization of Polymer-Encapsulated MoS2-ZnO Nanostructures as Organic–Inorganic Polymer Films for Sonocatalytic-Induced Dye Degradation
by Gowthami Palanisamy, Mrunal Bhosale, Sahil S. Magdum, Sadhasivam Thangarasu and Tae-Hwan Oh
Polymers 2024, 16(15), 2213; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16152213 - 2 Aug 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1298
Abstract
The development of environmentally friendly technology is vital to effectively address the issues related to environmental deterioration. This work integrates ZnO-decorated MoS2 (MZ) to create a high-performing PVDF-based PVDF/MoS2-ZnO (PMZ) hybrid polymer composite film for sonocatalytic organic pollutant degradation. An [...] Read more.
The development of environmentally friendly technology is vital to effectively address the issues related to environmental deterioration. This work integrates ZnO-decorated MoS2 (MZ) to create a high-performing PVDF-based PVDF/MoS2-ZnO (PMZ) hybrid polymer composite film for sonocatalytic organic pollutant degradation. An efficient synergistic combination of MZ was identified by altering the ratio, and its influence on PVDF was assessed using diverse structural, morphological, and sonocatalytic performances. The PMZ film demonstrated very effective sonocatalytic characteristics by degrading rhodamine B (RhB) dye with a degradation efficiency of 97.23%, whereas PVDF only degraded 17.7%. Combining MoS2 and ZnO reduces electron–hole recombination and increases the sonocatalytic degradation performance. Moreover, an ideal piezoelectric PVDF polymer with MZ enhances polarization to improve redox processes and dye degradation, ultimately increasing the degradation efficiency. The degradation efficiency of RhB was seen to decrease while employing isopropanol (IPA) and p-benzoquinone (BQ) due to the presence of reactive oxygen species. This suggests that the active species •O2− and •OH are primarily responsible for the degradation of RhB utilizing PMZ2 film. The PMZ film exhibited improved reusability without substantially decreasing its catalytic activity. The superior embellishment of ZnO onto MoS2 and effective integration of MZ into the PVDF polymer film results in improved degrading performance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Polymeric Membranes for Wastewater Reclamation and Water Purification II)
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