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Membrane Technologies for Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery

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A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Wastewater Treatment and Reuse".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 August 2023) | Viewed by 7144

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Anshul Yadav

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Guest Editor

Membrane Science and Separation Technology Division, CSIR-Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute, Bhavnagar 364002, India
Interests: water treatment; membrane processes; computational fluid dynamics; composites; wastewater treatment; adsorption
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

For economical and industrial developments, the availability of freshwater is a vital requirement. A major factor driving the increase in water consumption is population growth, while supply remains a major concern due to the over-extraction of ground and surface water sources. The deterioration of water sources is a major environmental concern due to untreated/partially treated municipal/domestic and industrial wastewater discharges, resulting in unsafe water for drinking purposes. Furthermore, the worldwide demand for freshwater has amplified considerably due to urbanization, population progression, development, and growing economies. Due to increasingly stringent environmental regulations, saline water treatment focused on mineral and water recovery has become almost essential. Furthermore, zero liquid discharge systems for industries are a new normal. As a result, sustainable technologies are concurrently being developed to realize industrial wastewater treatment and re-use as potential alternate sources.

A paradigm shift in terms of the recovery of solids (minerals) and water, and adherence to stringent environmental regulations such as zero liquid discharge, has helped modify traditional saline water and wastewater treatment technologies. Furthermore, there is a need for technology to reduce the reject (containing useful solids) from conventional water treatment techniques. Alternatives are quickly becoming a top priority, since the storage or disposal of the solids generated through conventional zero liquid discharge techniques can have adverse environmental impacts. Hence, there is a need for technology alternatives that can simultaneously extract water and crystallize solids, leaving behind no untreated residue, thereby providing a solution for stringent environmental regulations for industrial wastewater treatment and management.

Membrane technologies, in combination with crystallisation, is a promising technology for simultaneous water and solids recovery from saline water (reject brine) and wastewater. The treatment of these streams offers the chance to recover valuable solids with zero liquid discharge and reduce or eliminate the related risks. The applications of membrane technologies are growing globally, and efforts are being made to significantly reduce the membrane cost and energy requirements. Membrane-based zero liquid discharge technologies are promising future options for industrial wastewater treatment and the re-use and recovery of solids (resource).

The scope of this Special Issue, entitled “Membrane Technologies for Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery”, involves a large number of topics in the field of membrane science, including membrane synthesis and its applications for reject treatment, wastewater treatment and solids recovery.

In this Special Issue, case studies, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

Materials for membrane synthesis;
Zero discharge membrane process;
Pressure-driven membrane process;
Membrane bioreactors;
Membrane surface modifications;
Mixed matrix membranes;
Desalination;
Membrane technologies and energy perspectives;
Fouling issues and antifouling strategies;
Membrane transport phenomena;
Solids recovery;
Reject management;
Alternate membrane-based (waste)water treatment.

Dr. Anshul Yadav
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. Water 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 2600 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

membranes
polymeric membranes
polymers
reject management
solids recovery
transport phenomena
water treatment
wastewater treatment, zero liquid discharge

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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20 pages, 9472 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Advancing Sustainable Wastewater Treatment Using Enhanced Membrane Oil Flux and Separation Efficiency through Experimental-Based Chemometric Learning

by Jamilu Usman, Sani I. Abba, Ibrahim Muhammed, Ismail Abdulazeez, Dahiru U. Lawal, Lukka Thuyavan Yogarathinam, Abdullah Bafaqeer, Nadeem Baig and Isam H. Aljundi

Water 2023, 15(20), 3611; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15203611 - 16 Oct 2023

Viewed by 1033

Abstract

Efficient oil–water separation using membranes directly aligns with removing oil pollutants from water sources, promoting water quality. Hence, mitigating environmental harm from oil spills and contamination and fostering ecosystem health for sustainable development. Computational learning, such as artificial intelligence (AI), enhances membrane oil flux and separation efficiency by optimizing process parameters, leading to improved oil–water separation and aligning AI with sustainable environmental protection and resource efficiency solutions. This study employed phase-inversion coupled with sintering to create the ceramic membrane. The Stöber method was adopted to prepare the superhydrophobic silica sol-gel solutions. The data from the mentioned experiment were imposed into regression models, namely, multilinear regression analysis (MLR), support vector regression (SVR), and robust linear regression (RLR), to simulate three different scenarios (oil flux, separation efficiency, and oil flux and separation efficiency). The outcomes were validated and evaluated using several statistical (R², MSE, R, and RMSE) and graphical visualizations. For oil flux, the results show that the most effective simulation was achieved in SVR-M2 and the statistical criteria for the testing phase were R² = 0.9847, R = 0.9923, RMSE = 0.0333, and MSE = 0.0011. Similarly, SVR-M2 was superior to other modeling techniques for the separation efficiency in the testing phase (R² = 0.9945, R = 0.9972, RMSE = 0.0282, MSE = 0.0008). Reliability outcomes promise to revolutionize how we model and optimize membrane-based oil–water separation processes, with implications for various industries seeking sustainable and efficient solutions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane Technologies for Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery)

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17 pages, 2990 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Integrated Modeling of Hybrid Nanofiltration/Reverse Osmosis Desalination Plant Using Deep Learning-Based Crow Search Optimization Algorithm

by Sani. I. Abba, Jamilu Usman, Ismail Abdulazeez, Dahiru U. Lawal, Nadeem Baig, A. G. Usman and Isam H. Aljundi

Water 2023, 15(19), 3515; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15193515 - 09 Oct 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1684

Abstract

The need for reliable, state-of-the-art environmental investigations and pioneering approaches to address pressing ecological dilemmas and to nurture the sustainable development goals (SDGs) cannot be overstated. With the power to revolutionize desalination processes, artificial intelligence (AI) models hold the potential to address global water scarcity challenges and contribute to a more sustainable and resilient future. The realm of desalination has exhibited a mounting inclination toward modeling the efficacy of the hybrid nanofiltration/reverse osmosis (NF–RO) process. In this research, the performance of NF–RO based on permeate conductivity was developed using deep learning long short-term memory (LSTM) integrated with an optimized metaheuristic crow search algorithm (CSA) (LSTM-CSA). Before model development, an uncertainty Monte Carlo simulation was adopted to evaluate the uncertainty attributed to the prediction. The results based on several performance statistical criteria (root mean square error (RMSE) and mean absolute error (MAE)) demonstrated the reliability of both LSTM (RMSE = 0.1971, MAE = 0.2022) and the LSTM-CSA (RMSE = 0.1890, MAE = 0.1420), with the latter achieving the highest accuracy. The accuracy was also evaluated using new 2D graphical visualization, including a cumulative distribution function (CDF) and fan plot to justify the other evaluation indicators such as standard deviation and determination coefficients. The outcomes proved that AI could optimize energy usage, identify energy-saving opportunities, and suggest more sustainable operating strategies. Additionally, AI can aid in developing advanced brine treatment techniques, facilitating the extraction of valuable resources from the brine, thus minimizing waste and maximizing resource utilization. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane Technologies for Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery)

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17 pages, 6417 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Recovered Reverse-Osmosis Water and MgO Nanoparticles for Improved Performance of Solar PV/T Systems

by Shweta Singh, Rakesh Kumar Singh, Anil Kumar, Virendra Kumar and Gopal Nath Tiwari

Water 2023, 15(13), 2445; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15132445 - 03 Jul 2023

Viewed by 1417

Abstract

Domestic RO systems are commonly installed in households for water purification and treatment, typically for drinking water purposes. While RO systems effectively remove impurities, such as dissolved salts, minerals, and contaminants from tap water, they produce a concentrated waste stream known as RO reject. This reject water contains the contaminants that were removed during the RO filtration process. This RO reject can be effectively utilized in other domestic, agricultural, and industrial applications. In this study, the performance of a photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) system was experimentally examined by employing RO reject and MgO/water-based nano-fluid. Two 165 W polycrystalline solar PV modules were used to compare the performance of a PV/T and a PV module. The performance of the solar PV module was assessed in terms of cell temperature and electrical efficiency using a water- and MgO/water-based PV/T system. Furthermore, the thermal and overall efficiency of the PV/T module was also compared using different base fluids. The effect of the working fluid flow rate (3 LPM, 6 LPM, 9 LPM, and 12 LPM) and variations in the concentrations (0.10 wt.%, 0.15 wt.%, and 0.20 wt.%) of MgO nanoparticles were examined to evaluate the improvement in the performance of the PV/T system. The results indicate that the PV/T system’s cell temperature was significantly reduced, and its electrical, thermal, and overall efficiency increased with an increased flow rate. The optimum concentration of nanoparticles and flow rate were determined to be 0.15 wt.% and 12 LPM, respectively. The findings suggest that MgO/water-based nano-fluids have the potential to enhance the performance of PV/T systems, and this study provides valuable insights for their practical implementation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane Technologies for Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery)

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Review

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18 pages, 10912 KiB

Open AccessReview

Flood Risk and Vulnerability from a Changing Climate Perspective: An Overview Focusing on Flash Floods and Associated Hazards in Jeddah

by Syed Muzzamil Hussain Shah, Mohamed A. Yassin, Sani I. Abba, Dahiru U. Lawal, Ebrahim Hamid Hussein Al-Qadami, Fang Yenn Teo, Zahiraniza Mustaffa and Isam H. Aljundi

Water 2023, 15(20), 3641; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15203641 - 17 Oct 2023

Viewed by 2676

Abstract

Natural hazard threats have grown as a result of climate change, fast demographic development, and major urbanization. Devastating floods have occurred in several areas of the world recently, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is located in a region with a dry environment. In arid or semi-arid regions, rapidly forming flash floods associated with debris flowing down over dry water courses leading to a potential threat to both lives and property. Being located at the coastal plain of western Saudi Arabia, Jeddah City has witnessed an unexpected amount of rainfall events in recent years. Such extreme rainfall events, integrated with other factors, namely topography, land use, surface runoff, etc., have led to flood generation, which is alarming indeed. Herein, this paper addresses the varying climatic classifications of the Kingdom, its risk and vulnerability, followed by reasoning about the impact of flash flood events and the associated casualties and property losses. Further, it reports about the existing strategies of the government and proposes a systematic way forward on how to alleviate such events in future. Thus, risk variables have been discovered and integrated in the context of climate change and rising anthropogenic strain on coastal communities to give planners and decision makers tools to assure effective and appropriate flood risk management. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane Technologies for Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery)

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