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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 (30 November 2022) | Viewed by 24028

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Satoshi Takizawa

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Guest Editor

Department of Urban Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan
Interests: water and wastewater treatment using membranes; hybrid membrane processes; natural organic matter removal by membrane filtration; membrane fouling and integrity testing; removal of emerging contaminants by membrane filtration
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Dr. Alberto Tiraferri

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Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering (DIATI), Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Turin, Italy
Interests: environmental phenomena occurring at the solid/water interface and the engineering applications involving these phenomena; with special focus on water and wastewater separation using membranes; desalination; membrane fouling mechanisms; the coupling of membrane processes with advanced oxidation
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Dr. Jenyuk Lohwacharin

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Guest Editor

Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, 254 Phyathai Rd., Wangmai, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
Interests: membrane-assisted water and wastewater treatment; biofouling; organic fouling; pretreatment processes for membrane filtration; removal of emerging contaminants; water reuse and nutrient recovery; membrane bioreactor (MBR)

Dr. Yu Yang

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Guest Editor

School of Environment, Beijing Normal University No 19, Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing, China 100875
Interests: water pollution control; membrane filtration; membrane fouling control
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Dr. Takashi Hashimoto

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Guest Editor

Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, the University of Tokyo, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8904, Japan
Interests: water supply; water treatment technologies; membrane filtration processes; safe drinking water in developing countries
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Membrane filtration processes have become a main option for water and wastewater treatment due to their compactness and highly efficiency. In addition, the reliability of membrane filtration processes has improved extensively thanks to the development of new membrane materials and the long-term experience of operation. While the benefits and opportunities for sustainable membrane operation are constantly opening up, there are concurrent challenges that require significant research efforts. Membrane fouling remains the major obstacle to the stable operation of the membrane filtration processes. Although there are several membrane integrity testing methods at hand, the usefulness of those testing methods has rarely been reported. Innovation in membrane materials, such as membrane grafting and modification, is progressing, but further development is anticipated for the practical application of those innovative membrane designs. The removal of emerging and trace contaminants by membrane filtration is still a challenge due to associated costs and limited removal efficiency; thus, hybrid processes could be practical solutions for such applications. Small-scale and point-of-use membrane filtration processes, including household water treatment, would increase options for the removal of arsenic and fluoride: studies on technology advances, as well as case studies, of such compact membrane processes are highly useful for the safe and reliable implementation of these methods.

This Special Issue is devoted to “Water and Wastewater Treatment Technologies with Membrane Filtration”. Authors are invited to submit their contributions in the form of research articles (based on either full-scale operation, lab-scale or pilot-scale experiments, or simulation results), technical reporting, case studies, and critical reviews. Relevant topics include:

Membrane filtration application to water and wastewater treatment in full-scale or pilot-scale.
Innovative membrane materials and designs, including membrane grafting and modification for improvement of filtration flux and contaminant removal.
Hybrid membrane processes, such as adsorption-membrane filtration processes.
Removal of natural organic matter, emerging and trace contaminants, and dissolved contaminants by membrane filtration.
Analysis of membrane fouling and integrity testing of membranes.
Process design and life-cycle cost analysis of membrane filtration processes.
Desalination and zero liquid discharge driven by membranes.
Low carbon membrane technologies.

Prof. Dr. Satoshi Takizawa
Dr. Alberto Tiraferri
Dr. Jenyuk Lohwacharin
Dr. Yu Yang
Dr. Takashi Hashimoto
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

Innovative membrane filtration process
Membrane integrity
Membrane fouling and cleaning
Membrane grafting and modification
Membrane modification
Household water treatment
Desalination
Emerging and trace contaminant removal
Hybrid membrane processes
Removal of natural organic matter
Life cycle cost analysis (LCA) of membrane filtration processes

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Published Papers (8 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 4221 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Modeling of Organic Fouling in an Ultrafiltration Cell Using Different Three-Dimensional Printed Turbulence Promoters

by Szabolcs Kertész, Nikolett Sz. Gulyás, Aws N. Al-Tayawi, Gabriella Huszár, József Richárd Lennert, József Csanádi, Sándor Beszédes, Cecilia Hodúr, Tamás Szabó and Zsuzsanna László

Membranes 2023, 13(3), 262; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes13030262 - 23 Feb 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2004

Abstract

Designing turbulence promoters with optimal geometry and using them for ultrafiltration systems has been a key challenge in mitigating membrane fouling. In this study, six different turbulence promoters were created using three-dimensional printing technology and applied in dead-end ultrafiltration. Three-dimensional-printed (3DP) turbulence promoter configurations were integrated into a classical batch ultrafiltration cell. The effects of these configurations and the stirring speeds on the permeate filtration flux, organic rejections, and membrane resistances were investigated. The fouling control efficiency of the 3DP promoters was evaluated using two polyethersulfone membranes in a stirred ultrafiltration cell with model dairy wastewater. The Hermia and resistance-in-series models were studied to further investigate the membrane fouling mechanism. Of the Hermia models, the cake layer model best described the fouling in this membrane filtration system. It can be concluded that the 3DP turbulence promoters, combined with intense mechanical stirring, show great promise in terms of permeate flux enhancement and membrane fouling mitigation. Using a well-designed 3DP turbulence promoter improves the hydrodynamic flow conditions on the surface of the stirred membrane separation cells based on computational fluid dynamics modeling. Therefore, the factors effecting the fabrication of 3DP turbulence promoters are important, and further research should be devoted to revealing them. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water and Wastewater Treatment Technologies with Membrane Filtration)

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15 pages, 1086 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Removal of Organics with Ion-Exchange Resins (IEX) from Reverse Osmosis Concentrate

by Sukanyah Devaisy, Jaya Kandasamy, Rupak Aryal, Md Abu Hasan Johir, Harsha Ratnaweera and Saravanamuthu Vigneswaran

Membranes 2023, 13(2), 136; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes13020136 - 20 Jan 2023

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3782

Abstract

Reverse osmosis concentrate (ROC) produced as the by-product of the reverse osmosis process consists of a high load of organics (macro and micro) that potentially cause eco-toxicological effects in the environment. Previous studies focused on the removal of such compounds using oxidation, adsorption, and membrane-based treatments. However, these methods were not always efficient and formed toxic by-products. The impact of ion-exchange resin (IEX) (Purolite^®A502PS) was studied in a micro-filtration–IEX hybrid system to remove organics from ROC for varying doses of Purolite^® A502PS (5–20 g/L) at a flux of 36 L/m²h. The purolite particles in the membrane reactor reduced membrane fouling, evidenced by the reduction of transmembrane pressure (TMP), by pre-adsorbing the organics, and by mechanically scouring the membrane. The dissolved organic carbon was reduced by 45–60%, out of which 48–81% of the hydrophilics were removed followed by the hydrophobics and low molecular weight compounds (LMWs). This was based on fluorescence excitation-emission matrix and liquid chromatography-organic carbon detection. Negatively charged and hydrophobic organic compounds were preferentially removed by resin. Long-term experiments with different daily replacements of resin are suggested to minimize the resin requirements and energy consumption. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water and Wastewater Treatment Technologies with Membrane Filtration)

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14 pages, 2692 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluating the Feasibility of Employing Dynamic Membranes for the Direct Filtration of Municipal Wastewater

by Pau Sanchis-Perucho, Daniel Aguado, José Ferrer, Aurora Seco and Ángel Robles

Membranes 2022, 12(10), 1013; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12101013 - 19 Oct 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1413

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of using dynamic membranes for direct filtration of municipal wastewater. The influence of different alternative supporting materials (one or two layers of flat open monofilament woven polyamide meshes with 1 or 5 µm of pore size) was studied. A stable short-term self-forming DM was achieved (from some hours to 3 days) regardless of the supporting material used, producing relatively similar permeate qualities (total suspended solids, chemical oxygen demand, total nitrogen, total phosphorous and turbidity of 67–88 mg L⁻¹, 155–186 mg L⁻¹, 48.7–50.4 mg L⁻¹, 4.7–4.9 mg L⁻¹, and 167–174 NTU, respectively). A DM permeability loss rate of from 5.21 to 10.03 LMH bar⁻¹ day⁻¹ was obtained, which depended on the supporting material used. Unfortunately, the preliminary energy, carbon footprint, and economic evaluations performed showed that although DMs obtain higher pollutant captures than conventional treatments (primary settler), the benefits are not enough to justify their use for treating average municipal wastewater. However, this alternative scheme could be suitable for treating higher-loaded MWW with a higher fraction of organic matter in the non-settleable solids. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water and Wastewater Treatment Technologies with Membrane Filtration)

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19 pages, 5551 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fabrication of a Novel (PVDF/MWCNT/Polypyrrole) Antifouling High Flux Ultrafiltration Membrane for Crude Oil Wastewater Treatment

by Banan Hudaib, Rund Abu-Zurayk, Haneen Waleed and Abed Alqader Ibrahim

Membranes 2022, 12(8), 751; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12080751 - 30 Jul 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3311

Abstract

The present work deals with the fabrication of novel poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF)/Multi-wall Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNT)/Polypyrrole (PPy) ultrafiltration membrane by phase inversion technique for the removal of crude oil from refinery wastewater. In situ polymerization of pyrrole with different concentrations of MWCNT ranging from 0.025 wt.% to 0.3 wt.% in PVDF prepared solutions. Measurement of permeability, porosity, contact angle, tensile strength, zeta potential, rejection studies and morphological characterization by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were conducted. The results showed that membrane with (0.05% MWCNT) concentration had the highest permeability flux (850 LMH/bar), about 17 folds improvement of permeability compared to pristine PVDF membrane. Moreover, membrane rejection of crude oil reached about 99.9%. The excellent performance of this nanocomposite membrane suggests that novel PVDF modification with polypyrrole had a considerable effect on permeability with high potential for use in the treatment of oily wastewater in the refinery industry. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water and Wastewater Treatment Technologies with Membrane Filtration)

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14 pages, 5859 KiB

Open AccessArticle

New Facility for Membrane Fouling Investigations under Customizable Hydrodynamics: Validation and Preliminary Experiments with Pulsating Cross-Flow

by Roberto Bert, Costantino Manes and Alberto Tiraferri

Membranes 2022, 12(3), 334; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12030334 - 17 Mar 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2234

Abstract

Flux reduction induced by fouling is arguably the most adverse phenomenon in membrane-based separation systems. In this respect, many laboratory-scale filtration studies have shown that an appropriate use of hydrodynamic perturbations can improve both performance and durability of the membrane; however, to fully understand and hence appropriately exploit such effects, it is necessary to understand the underpinning flow processes. Towards this end, in this work we propose and validate a new module-scale laboratory facility with the aim of investigating, at very well-controlled flow conditions, how hydrodynamics affects mass transport phenomena at the feed/membrane interface. The proposed facility was designed to obtain a fully developed and uniform flow inside the test section and to impose both steady and pulsating flow conditions. The walls of the facility were made transparent to grant optical accessibility to the flow. In this paper, we discuss data coming from particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements and preliminary ultrafiltration tests both under steady and pulsating flow conditions. PIV data indicate that the proposed facility allows for excellent flow control from a purely hydrodynamic standpoint. Results from filtration tests provide promising results pointing towards pulsating flows as a viable technique to reduce fouling in membrane systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water and Wastewater Treatment Technologies with Membrane Filtration)

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20 pages, 7102 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Chemical Cleaning on the Ageing of Polyvinylidene Fluoride Microfiltration and Ultrafiltration Membranes Fouled with Organic and Inorganic Matter

by Mariny Chheang, Narapong Hongprasith, Chalita Ratanatawanate and Jenyuk Lohwacharin

Membranes 2022, 12(3), 280; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12030280 - 28 Feb 2022

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4295

Abstract

Herein, the effects of cleaning with sodium hydroxide and citric acid solutions as cleaning reagents on the changes in the properties of two hollow-fiber PVDF microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF) membranes fouled with organic and inorganic matter were investigated. Accelerated membrane ageing was induced by use of high concentrations of tannic acid and iron oxide (Fe₂O₃) particles in the feed water; these conditions were kept with different membrane soaking times to observe temporal effects. It was found that tannic acid molecules adsorb onto the membrane surface that results in changes in surface characteristics, particularly surface functional groups that are responsible for enhancing membrane’s hydrophilicity. Experimental results demonstrate that NaOH had a stronger effect on the tensile strength and surface chemistry of the fouled MF and UF membranes than citric acid. Prediction of lifetime by an exponential (decay) model confirmed that the UF membrane cleaned with NaOH would be aged within about 1.8 years and the MF membrane after about 5 years, at cleaning every 15 days, downtime 2 h per cleaning, when a 10% tensile strength decrease against the original membrane is allowed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water and Wastewater Treatment Technologies with Membrane Filtration)

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15 pages, 3995 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Temperature on Oil–Water Separations Using Membranes in Horizontal Separators

by Tao Zhang, Chenguang Li and Shuyu Sun

Membranes 2022, 12(2), 232; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12020232 - 17 Feb 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2437

Abstract

The effect of temperature on oil–water separations is studied in this paper, focusing on the changed penetration velocities of water droplets on the separation membrane in a horizontal separator. A compact numerical scheme is developed based on the phase-field model, and the temperature effect is first theoretically analyzed regarding the key thermodynamic properties that may affect the separation performance. The computational scenario is designed based on practical horizontal separators in the oil field, and the droplet motions in the oil–water two-phase flow are simulated using our scheme under various operation conditions. It was found that a higher temperature may result in a faster penetration of the water droplets, and a larger density difference in the oil–water system is also preferred to accelerate the separation using membranes. Furthermore, increasing the operation temperature is proved to benefit the separation of water and heavy oil. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water and Wastewater Treatment Technologies with Membrane Filtration)

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22 pages, 6221 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Prediction of Membrane Failure in a Water Purification Plant Using Nonhomogeneous Poisson Process Models

by Takashi Hashimoto and Satoshi Takizawa

Membranes 2021, 11(11), 800; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11110800 - 20 Oct 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2485

Abstract

The prediction of membrane failure in full-scale water purification plants is an important but difficult task. Although previous studies employed accelerated laboratory-scale tests of membrane failure, it is not possible to reproduce the complex operational conditions of full-scale plants. Therefore, we aimed to develop prediction models of membrane failure using actual membrane failure data. Because membrane filtration systems are repairable systems, nonhomogeneous Poisson process (NHPP) models, i.e., power law and log-linear models, were employed; the model parameters were estimated using the membrane failure data from a full-scale plant operated for 13 years. Both models were able to predict cumulative failures for forthcoming years; nonetheless, the power law model showed higher stability and narrower confidence intervals than the log-linear model. By integrating two membrane replacement criteria, namely deterioration of filtrate water quality and reduction of membrane permeability, it was possible to predict the time to replace all the membranes on a water purification plant. Finally, the NHPP models coupled with a nonparametric bootstrap method provided a method to select membrane modules for earlier replacement than others. Although the criteria for membrane replacement may vary among membrane filtration plants, the NHPP models presented in this study could be applied to any other plant with membrane failure data. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water and Wastewater Treatment Technologies with Membrane Filtration)

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