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Membranes
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Novel Membranes for Desalination
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Novel Membranes for Desalination

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 July 2022) | Viewed by 14962

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Fu Liu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Key Laboratory of Marine Materials and Related Technologies, Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Marine Materials and Protective Technologies, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, China
Interests: UF/NF/RO/FO membranes; dialysis membranes; oil/water separation membranes; molecular sieving membranes(MOF/COF/mixed matrix membranes); catalytic membranes
Prof. Dr. Kaisong Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China
Interests: nanocomposite membranes; flat sheet MBR; fouling

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With more than one-third of the world’s population living in water-stressed regions, the worldwide challenge of water scarcity calls for efficient desalination and water reuse technologies from saline and/or contaminated waters to augment fresh water supply. Various technologies have been developed to achieve desalination and realize ion-scaled separation including nanofiltration (NF), reverse osmosis (RO), forward osmosis (FO), distillation, photothermal evaporation, and gas- or nanobubble-governed nanofluidic transport. Membrane material design and preparation, membrane processes, and membrane separation mechanisms are attracting attention in terms of improving separation performance and saving operation energy.

This Special Issue on “Novel membranes for desalination” aims to cover recent developments and advances in all aspects of novel membranes including new materials, new fabrication, new processes, and new mechanisms to boost the development of desalination.

Both original research and review papers are welcome.

Prof. Dr. Fu Liu
Prof. Dr. Kaisong Zhang
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.

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 5947 KiB  
Article
Pervaporation Membranes for Seawater Desalination Based on Geo–rGO–TiO2 Nanocomposites: Part 2—Membranes Performances
by Subaer Subaer, Hamzah Fansuri, Abdul Haris, Misdayanti Misdayanti, Imam Ramadhan, Teguh Wibawa, Yulprista Putri, Harlyenda Ismayanti and Agung Setiawan
Membranes 2022, 12(11), 1046; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12111046 - 26 Oct 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2161
Abstract
This is part 2 of the research on pervaporation membranes for seawater desalination based on Geo–rGO–TiO2 nanocomposite. The quality of the Geo–rGO–TiO2 pervaporation membranes (PV), as well as the suitability of the built pervaporation system, is thoroughly discussed. The four membranes [...] Read more.
This is part 2 of the research on pervaporation membranes for seawater desalination based on Geo–rGO–TiO2 nanocomposite. The quality of the Geo–rGO–TiO2 pervaporation membranes (PV), as well as the suitability of the built pervaporation system, is thoroughly discussed. The four membranes described in detail in the first article were tested for their capabilities using the parameters turbidity, salinity, total suspended solids (TSS), and electrical conductivity (EC). The membranes’ flux permeate was measured as a function of temperature, and salt rejection was calculated using the electrical conductivity values of the feed and permeate. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques were used to investigate changes in the chemical composition and internal structure of the membranes after use in pervaporation systems. The morphology of the membrane’s surfaces was examined by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the elemental distribution was observed by using X-ray mapping and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The results showed that the pervaporation membrane of Geo–rGO–TiO2 (1, 3) achieved a permeate flux as high as 2.29 kg/m2·h with a salt rejection of around 91%. The results of the FTIR and XRD measurements did not show any changes in the functional group and chemical compositions of the membrane after the pervaporation process took place. Long-term pressure and temperature feed cause significant cracking in geopolymer and Geo–TiO2 (3) membranes. SEM results revealed that the surface of all membranes is leached out, and elemental distribution based on X-ray mapping and EDS observations revealed the addition of Na+ ions on the membrane surface. The study’s findings pave the way for more research and development of geopolymers as the basic material for inorganic membranes, particularly with the addition of rGO–TiO2 nanocomposites. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Membranes for Desalination)
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16 pages, 2109 KiB  
Article
Fabrication of Thin Film Composite Membranes on Nanozeolite Modified Support Layer for Tailored Nanofiltration Performance
by Shabin Mohammed, Haya Nassrullah, Jamaliah Aburabie and Raed Hashaikeh
Membranes 2022, 12(10), 940; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12100940 - 27 Sep 2022
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 2661
Abstract
Thin-film composite (TFC) structure has been widely employed in polymeric membrane fabrication to achieve superior performance for desalination and water treatment. In particular, TFC membranes with a thin active polyamide (PA) selective layer are proven to offer improved permeability without compromising salt rejection. [...] Read more.
Thin-film composite (TFC) structure has been widely employed in polymeric membrane fabrication to achieve superior performance for desalination and water treatment. In particular, TFC membranes with a thin active polyamide (PA) selective layer are proven to offer improved permeability without compromising salt rejection. Several modifications to TFCs have been proposed over the years to enhance their performance by altering the selective, intermediate, or support layer. This study proposes the modification of the membrane support using nanozeolites prepared by a unique ball milling technique for tailoring the nanofiltration performance. TFC membranes were fabricated by the interfacial polymerization of Piperazine (PIP) and 1,3,5-Benzenetricarbonyl trichloride (TMC) on Polysulfone (PSf) supports modified with nanozeolites. The nanozeolite concentration in the casting solution varied from 0 to 0.2%. Supports prepared with different nanozeolite concentrations resulted in varied hydrophilicity, porosity, and permeability. Results showed that optimum membrane performance was obtained for supports modified with 0.1% nanozeolites where pure water permeance of 17.1 ± 2.1 Lm−2 h−1 bar−1 was observed with a salt rejection of 11.47%, 33.84%, 94%, and 95.1% for NaCl, MgCl2, MgSO4, and Na2SO4 respectively. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Membranes for Desalination)
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14 pages, 4570 KiB  
Article
Seawater Reverse Osmosis Performance Decline Caused by Short-Term Elevated Feed Water Temperature
by Thomas Altmann, Paulus J. Buijs, Andreia S. F. Farinha, Vitor R. Proença Borges, Nadia M. Farhat, Johannes S. Vrouwenvelder and Ratul Das
Membranes 2022, 12(8), 792; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12080792 - 18 Aug 2022
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 5144
Abstract
The shortage of fresh water resources has made the desalination of seawater a widely adopted technology. Seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) is the most commonly used method for desalination. The SWRO process is energy-intensive, and most of the energy in SWRO is spent on [...] Read more.
The shortage of fresh water resources has made the desalination of seawater a widely adopted technology. Seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) is the most commonly used method for desalination. The SWRO process is energy-intensive, and most of the energy in SWRO is spent on pressurizing the seawater to overcome the osmotic barrier for producing fresh water. The pressure needed depends on the salinity of the seawater, its temperature, and the membrane surface properties. Membrane compaction occurs in SWRO due to hydraulic pressure application for long-term operations and operating temperature fluctuations due to seasonal seawater changes. This study investigates the effects of short-term feed water temperature increase on the SWRO process in a full-scale pilot with pretreatment and a SWRO installation consisting of a pressure vessel which contains seven industrial-scale 8” diameter spiral wound membrane elements. A SWRO feed water temperature of 40 °C, even for a short period of 7 days, caused a permanent performance decline illustrated by a strong specific energy consumption increase of 7.5%. This study highlights the need for membrane manufacturer data that account for the water temperature effect on membrane performance over a broad temperature range. There is a need to develop new membranes that are more tolerant to temperature fluctuations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Membranes for Desalination)
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16 pages, 4231 KiB  
Article
The Preparation of High-Performance and Stable MXene Nanofiltration Membranes with MXene Embedded in the Organic Phase
by Qiang Xue and Kaisong Zhang
Membranes 2022, 12(1), 2; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12010002 - 21 Dec 2021
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4159
Abstract
Nanomaterials embedded in nanofiltration membranes have become a promising modification technology to improve separation performance. As a novel representation of two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials, MXene has nice features with a strong negative charge and excellent hydrophilicity. Our previous research showed that MXene nanosheets were [...] Read more.
Nanomaterials embedded in nanofiltration membranes have become a promising modification technology to improve separation performance. As a novel representation of two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials, MXene has nice features with a strong negative charge and excellent hydrophilicity. Our previous research showed that MXene nanosheets were added in the aqueous phase, which enhanced the permeselectivity of the membrane and achieved persistent desalination performance. Embedding the nanomaterials into the polyamide layer through the organic phase can locate the nanomaterials on the upper surface of the polyamide layer, and also prevent the water layer around the hydrophilic nanomaterials from hindering the interfacial polymerization reaction. We supposed that if MXene nanosheets were added in the organic phase, MXene nanosheets would have more negative contact sites on the membrane surface and the crosslinking degree would increase. In this study, MXene were dispersed in the organic phase with the help of ultrasound, then MXene nanocomposite nanofiltration membranes were achieved. The prepared MXene membranes obtained enhanced negative charge and lower effective pore size. In the 28-day persistent desalination test, the Na2SO4 rejection of MXene membrane could reach 98.6%, which showed higher rejection compared with MXene embedded in aqueous phase. The results of a long-time water immersion test showed that MXene membrane could still maintain a high salt rejection after being soaked in water for up to 105 days, which indicated MXene on the membrane surface was stable. Besides MXene membrane showed high rejection for high-concentration brine and good mono/divalent salt separation performance in mono/divalent mixed salt solutions. As a part of the study of MXene in nanofiltration membranes, we hoped this research could provide a theoretical guidance for future research in screening different addition methods and different properties. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Membranes for Desalination)
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