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Membranes
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Membrane-Based Technologies for Water/Wastewater Treatment
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Membrane-Based Technologies for Water/Wastewater Treatment

A special issue of Membranes (ISSN 2077-0375).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2024) | Viewed by 15301

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Sudesh Rathilal

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Guest Editor
Green Engineering Research Group, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, Durban University of Technology, Durban 4001, South Africa
Interests: water and wastewater treatment technologies; green engineering; membrane technology; process optimization; advanced oxidation process; nanotechnology; magnetic separation process
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Babatunde Femi Bakare

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Guest Editor
Environmental Pollution, and Remediation Research Group, Department of Chemical Engineering, Mangosuthu University of Technology, Durban, South Africa
Interests: chemical engineering; environmental science and ecology; energy and fuels; water and wastewater treatment technology
Dr. Emmanuel Kweinor Tetteh

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Green Engineering Research Group, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa
Interests: water and wastewater treatment technology; biophotocatalysis; membrane technology; bioenergy; process optimization; response surface methodology; green engineering; green catalysis; nanotechnology and magnetic separation technology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Martha Noro Chollom

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Environmental Pollution and Remediation Research Group, Department of Chemical Engineering, Mangosuthu University of Technology, Durban, South Africa
Interests: water and wastewater treatment echnology; membrane technology; novel adsorbents; vertinary antibiotics; biological and advanced oxidation process

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Rapid industrialization associated with environmental pollution makes membrane-based technologies an attractive approach for water and wastewater treatment. Coventional membrane-based processes such as  membrane distillation, forward/reverse osmosis, microfiltration, and ultrafiltration and nanofiltration systems can be designed by using flat-sheet, tubular, or hollow-fiber membrane modules. Notwithstanding, the design and functionality of membrane modules, fouling, and high costs present a challenge. To obtain high permeate quality, sustainability, and recoverability, the membrane-based technology must effectively reject the organics and other contaminants from the wastewater. This encourages its usability in (i) remote areas with limited access to centralized wastewater treatment facilities; (ii) less-developed countries with no centralized wastewater treatment facilities; and (iii) advanced post-treatment technology in centralized wastewater treatment facilities.

Therefore, this Special issue invites original research articles and reviews  that analyse cutting-edge advancements in membrane-based technologies and their applications for water and wastewater treatment, energy conversion, and resource recovery from wastewater and any other waste. Research areas may include, but are not limited to, advanced membrane bioreactors, electrodialysis, fouling, cleaning, module design, and optimization. This will encourage successful implementation and commercialization of membrane technology systems for sustainable environments and mitigation of wastewater pollution.

Prof. Dr. Sudesh Rathilal
Prof. Dr. Babatunde Femi Bakare
Dr. Emmanuel Kweinor Tetteh
Dr. Martha Noro Chollom
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 2200 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

  • membrane technology
  • nanotechnology
  • wastewater treatment technology
  • membrane bioreactors
  • nanofiltration
  • microfiltration
  • ultrafiltraion
  • osmosis
  • photocatalytic membrane reactor
  • membrane distillation

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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22 pages, 5370 KiB  
Article
Enhancing Water Purification by Integrating Titanium Dioxide Nanotubes into Polyethersulfone Membranes for Improved Hydrophilicity and Anti-Fouling Performance
by Ayesha Bilal, Muhammad Yasin, Faheem Hassan Akhtar, Mazhar Amjad Gilani, Hamad Almohamadi, Mohammad Younas, Azeem Mushtaq, Muhammad Aslam, Mehdi Hassan, Rab Nawaz, Aqsha Aqsha, Jaka Sunarso, Muhammad Roil Bilad and Asim Laeeq Khan
Membranes 2024, 14(5), 116; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes14050116 - 17 May 2024
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1742
Abstract
Water pollution remains a critical concern, one necessitated by rapidly increasing industrialization and urbanization. Among the various strategies for water purification, membrane technology stands out, with polyethersulfone (PES) often being the material of choice due to its robust mechanical properties, thermal stability, and [...] Read more.
Water pollution remains a critical concern, one necessitated by rapidly increasing industrialization and urbanization. Among the various strategies for water purification, membrane technology stands out, with polyethersulfone (PES) often being the material of choice due to its robust mechanical properties, thermal stability, and chemical resistance. However, PES-based membranes tend to exhibit low hydrophilicity, leading to reduced flux and poor anti-fouling performance. This study addresses these limitations by incorporating titanium dioxide nanotubes (TiO2NTs) into PES nanofiltration membranes to enhance their hydrophilic properties. The TiO2NTs, characterized through FTIR, XRD, BET, and SEM, were embedded in PES at varying concentrations using a non-solvent induced phase inversion (NIPS) method. The fabricated mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) were subjected to testing for water permeability and solute rejection capabilities. Remarkably, membranes with a 1 wt% TiO2NT loading displayed a significant increase in pure water flux, from 36 to 72 L m2 h−1 bar−1, a 300-fold increase in selectivity compared to the pristine sample, and a dye rejection of 99%. Furthermore, long-term stability tests showed only a slight reduction in permeate flux over a time of 36 h, while dye removal efficiency was maintained, thus confirming the membrane’s stability. Anti-fouling tests revealed a 93% flux recovery ratio, indicating excellent resistance to fouling. These results suggest that the inclusion of TiO2 NTs offers a promising avenue for the development of efficient and stable anti-fouling PES-based membranes for water purification. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane-Based Technologies for Water/Wastewater Treatment)
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30 pages, 8664 KiB  
Article
Productivity and Thermal Performance Enhancements of Hollow Fiber Water Gap Membrane Distillation Modules Using Helical Fiber Configuration: 3D Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling
by Mohamed O. Elbessomy, Mahmoud B. Elsheniti, Samy M. Elsherbiny, Ahmed Rezk and Osama A. Elsamni
Membranes 2023, 13(10), 843; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes13100843 - 22 Oct 2023
Viewed by 1771
Abstract
Although hollow fiber water gap membrane distillation (HF-WGMD) units offer certain advantages over other MD desalination systems, they still require enhancements in terms of distillate flux and productivity. Therefore, this work proposes a novel configuration by incorporating the helical turns of HF membranes [...] Read more.
Although hollow fiber water gap membrane distillation (HF-WGMD) units offer certain advantages over other MD desalination systems, they still require enhancements in terms of distillate flux and productivity. Therefore, this work proposes a novel configuration by incorporating the helical turns of HF membranes within the water gap channel of the HF-WGMD modules. A fully coupled 3D CFD model is developed and validated to simulate the multifaceted energy conservations and diffusion mechanisms that are inherent to the transport phenomena in the proposed HF-WGMD module. Single and double helical HF membrane designs with different numbers of turns are compared to the reference modules of single and double straight HF membrane designs under various operational conditions. At a feed temperature of 70 °C, a noteworthy 11.4% enhancement in the distillate flux is observed when employing 20 helical turns, compared to the single straight HF membrane module. Furthermore, the specific productivity revealed a maximum enhancement of 46.2% when using 50 helical turns. The thermal performance of the proposed HF-WGMD module shows higher energy savings of up to 35% in specific thermal energy consumption for a one-stage module. Using three stages of single helical modules can increase the gain output ratio from 0.17 for the single stage to 0.37, which represents an increase of 117.6%. These findings indicate the high potential of the proposed approach in advancing the performance of HF-WGMD systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane-Based Technologies for Water/Wastewater Treatment)
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15 pages, 2793 KiB  
Article
Using the Log Mean Temperature Difference (LMTD) and ε-NTU Methods to Analyze Heat and Mass Transfer in Direct Contact Membrane Distillation
by Mohammed A. Almeshaal and Karim Choubani
Membranes 2023, 13(6), 588; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes13060588 - 7 Jun 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 6104
Abstract
In direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD), heat and mass transfers occur through the porous membrane. Any model developed for the DCMD process should therefore be able to describe the mass transport mechanism through the membrane, the temperature and concentration effects on the surface [...] Read more.
In direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD), heat and mass transfers occur through the porous membrane. Any model developed for the DCMD process should therefore be able to describe the mass transport mechanism through the membrane, the temperature and concentration effects on the surface of the membrane, the permeate flux, and the selectivity of the membrane. In the present study, we developed a predictive mathematical model based on a counter flow heat exchanger analogy for the DCMD process. Two methods were used to analyze the water permeate flux across one hydrophobic membrane layer, namely the log mean temperature difference (LMTD) and the effectiveness-NTU methods. The set of equations was derived in a manner analogous to that employed for heat exchanger systems. The obtained results showed that the permeate flux increases by a factor of approximately 220% when increasing the log mean temperature difference by a factor of 80% or increasing the number of transfer units by a factor of 3%. A good level of agreement between this theoretical model and the experimental data at various feed temperatures confirmed that the model accurately predicts the permeate flux values for the DCMD process. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane-Based Technologies for Water/Wastewater Treatment)
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13 pages, 3878 KiB  
Article
Adsorption Performance of Heavy Metal Ions under Multifactorial Conditions by Synthesized Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Membranes
by Chaoqun Wu, Jiuhan Zheng and Limei Han
Membranes 2023, 13(5), 531; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes13050531 - 19 May 2023
Viewed by 1252
Abstract
A series of hybridized charged membrane materials containing carboxyl and silyl groups were prepared via the epoxy ring-opening reaction and sol–gel methods using 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (WD-60) and polyethylene glycol 6000 (PEG-6000) as raw materials and DMF as a solvent. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), fourier [...] Read more.
A series of hybridized charged membrane materials containing carboxyl and silyl groups were prepared via the epoxy ring-opening reaction and sol–gel methods using 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (WD-60) and polyethylene glycol 6000 (PEG-6000) as raw materials and DMF as a solvent. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and thermal gravimetric analyzer/differential scanning calorimetry (TGA/DSC) analysis showed that the heat resistance of the polymerized materials could reach over 300 °C after hybridization. A comparison of the results of heavy metal lead and copper ions’ adsorption tests on the materials at different times, temperatures, pHs, and concentrations showed that the hybridized membrane materials have good adsorption effects on heavy metals and better adsorption effects on lead ions. The maximum capacity obtained from optimized conditions for Cu2+ and Pb2+ ions were 0.331 and 5.012 mmol/g. The experiments proved that this material is indeed a new environmentally friendly, energy-saving, high-efficiency material. Moreover, their adsorptions for Cu2+ and Pb2+ ions will be evaluated as a model for the separation and recovery of heavy metal ions from wastewater. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane-Based Technologies for Water/Wastewater Treatment)
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Review

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18 pages, 1592 KiB  
Review
Versatile Silver-Nanoparticle-Impregnated Membranes for Water Treatment: A Review
by Achisa C. Mecha, Martha N. Chollom, Bakare F. Babatunde, Emmanuel K. Tetteh and Sudesh Rathilal
Membranes 2023, 13(4), 432; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes13040432 - 14 Apr 2023
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3028
Abstract
Increased affordability, smaller footprint, and high permeability quality that meets stringent water quality standards have accelerated the uptake of membranes in water treatment. Moreover, low pressure, gravity-based microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF) membranes eliminate the use of electricity and pumps. However, MF and [...] Read more.
Increased affordability, smaller footprint, and high permeability quality that meets stringent water quality standards have accelerated the uptake of membranes in water treatment. Moreover, low pressure, gravity-based microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF) membranes eliminate the use of electricity and pumps. However, MF and UF processes remove contaminants by size exclusion, based on membrane pore size. This limits their application in the removal of smaller matter or even harmful microorganisms. There is a need to enhance the membrane properties to meet needs such as adequate disinfection, flux amelioration, and reduced membrane fouling. To achieve these, the incorporation of nanoparticles with unique properties in membranes has potential. Herein, we review recent developments in the impregnation of polymeric and ceramic microfiltration and ultrafiltration membranes with silver nanoparticles that are applied in water treatment. We critically evaluated the potential of these membranes in enhanced antifouling, increased permeability quality and flux compared to uncoated membranes. Despite the intensive research in this area, most studies have been performed at laboratory scale for short periods of time. There is a need for studies that assess the long-term stability of the nanoparticles and the impact on disinfection and antifouling performance. These challenges are addressed in this study and future directions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane-Based Technologies for Water/Wastewater Treatment)
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