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Membranes
Special Issues
Point-of-use Membrane Technologies: Challenges and Opportunities
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Point-of-use Membrane Technologies: Challenges and Opportunities

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2019) | Viewed by 16486

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Volodymyr V. Tarabara

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
Interests: membrane separation processes; membrane reactors and hybrid processes
Prof. Dr. Michael O. Daramola

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2050, South Africa
Interests: membrane technology and catalysis; renewable energy, bio-based economy and sustainable environment; water purification/wastewater treatment; nanotechnology and composite materials; and process modeling and simulation
Prof. Dr. Miguel Herrera-Robledo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Universidad Regional Amazónica, km 7 Vía Muyuna, Tena 150102, Ecuador
Interests: biofouling in membrane bioreactors; photocatalytic coatings; hybrid membrane technologies; virology of fluvial systems
Prof. Dr. Katsuki Kimura

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Division of Environmental Engineering, Hokkaido University, N13W8, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-8628, Japan
Interests: water/wastewater treatment by membrane processes; fouling in membrane processes
Prof. Dr. Harsha Ratnaweera

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Science and Technology, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.O. Box 5003-RealTek, 1432 Aas, Norway
Interests: water resources management; process surveillance and control; water and wastewater treatment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Special Issue will include contributions that address the increasing role of point-of-use water and wastewater treatment using membranes. Manuscripts of a range of formats are invited, including state-of-the-art reviews, technical papers, technical notes, forum articles, and case studies. The specific topics to be included in the collection include but are not limited to the following:

  1. Feasibility of membrane-based point-of-use water treatment: Issues of cost, operational knowledge and training, quality control, social acceptance, other;
  2. Leveraging unique capabilities of membranes for point-of-use treatment: Low footprint, micropollutant removal, other;
  3. Membranes for point-of-use water and wastewater treatment in:
    • resource-constrained environments;
    • human support systems (cruise ships, remote and mobile bases, etc.);
    • emergency management scenarios;
    • conflict zones.

Manuscripts describing case studies are especially welcome.

In addition to technical papers on the subjects listed above, we welcome policy-oriented contributions addressing the status quo and prospective balance between the centralized and point-of use treatment paradigms.

Prof. Dr. Volodymyr V. Tarabara
Prof. Dr. Michael O. Daramola
Prof. Dr. Miguel Herrera-Robledo
Prof. Dr. Katsuki Kimura
Prof. Dr. Harsha Ratnaweera
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

  • Point-of-use treatment
  • Drinking water supply in conflict zones
  • Water treatment during emergency management: Case studies
  • Human support systems

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

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 5902 KiB  
Article
Effect of Loading and Functionalization of Carbon Nanotube on the Performance of Blended Polysulfone/Polyethersulfone Membrane during Treatment of Wastewater Containing Phenol and Benzene
by Mabusha S. Rameetse, Oluseyi Aberefa and Michael O. Daramola
Membranes 2020, 10(3), 54; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes10030054 - 24 Mar 2020
Cited by 34 | Viewed by 3877
Abstract
In this study, a carbon nanotube (CNT)-infused blended polymer membrane was prepared and evaluated for phenol and benzene removal from petroleum industry wastewater. A 25:75 (by weight %) blended polysulfone/polyethersulfone (PSF/PES) membrane infused with CNTs was prepared and tested. The effect of functionalization [...] Read more.
In this study, a carbon nanotube (CNT)-infused blended polymer membrane was prepared and evaluated for phenol and benzene removal from petroleum industry wastewater. A 25:75 (by weight %) blended polysulfone/polyethersulfone (PSF/PES) membrane infused with CNTs was prepared and tested. The effect of functionalization of the CNTs on the quality and performance of the membrane was also investigated. The membranes were loaded with CNTs at different loadings: 0.5 wt. %, 1 wt. %, 1.5 wt. % pure CNTs (pCNTs) and 1 wt. % functionalized CNTs (fCNTs), to gain an insight into the effect of the amount of CNT on the quality and performance of the membranes. Physicochemical properties of the as-prepared membranes were obtained using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for morphology, Raman spectroscopy for purity of the CNTs, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) for surface chemistry, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) for thermal stability, atomic force microscopy (AFM) for surface nature and nano-tensile analysis for the mechanical strength of the membranes. The performance of the membrane was tested with synthetic wastewater containing 20 ppm of phenol and 20 ppm of benzene using a dead-end filtration cell at a pressure ranging from 100 to 300 kPa. The results show that embedding CNTs in the blended polymer (PSF/PES) increased both the porosity and water absorption capacity of the membranes, thereby resulting in enhanced water flux up to 309 L/m2h for 1.5 wt. % pCNTs and 326 L/m2h for 1 wt. % functionalized CNT-loaded membrane. Infusing the polysulfone/polyethersulfone (PSF/PES) membrane with CNTs enhanced the thermal stability and mechanical strength. Results from AFM indicate enhanced hydrophilicity of the membranes, translating in the enhancement of anti-fouling properties of the membranes. However, the % rejection of membranes with CNTs decreased with an increase in pCNTs concentration and pressure, while it increased the membrane with fCNTs. The % rejection of benzene in the pCNTs membrane decreased with 13.5% and 7.55% in fCNT membrane while phenol decreased with 55.6% in pCNT membrane and 42.9% in the FCNT membrane. This can be attributed to poor CNT dispersion resulting in increased pore sizes observed when CNT concentration increases. Optimization of membrane synthesis might be required to enhance the separation performance of the membranes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Point-of-use Membrane Technologies: Challenges and Opportunities)
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16 pages, 2349 KiB  
Article
Effect of Chitosan’s Degree of Deacetylation on the Performance of PES Membrane Infused with Chitosan during AMD Treatment
by Machodi Mathaba and Michael Olawale Daramola
Membranes 2020, 10(3), 52; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes10030052 - 24 Mar 2020
Cited by 46 | Viewed by 4364
Abstract
Acid mine drainage is an environmental problem associated with mining operations and activities. Its treatment is essential to achieving environmental sustainability. In this study, a polyethersulphone (PES) membrane infused with chitosan is proposed as a point-of-use material for treating acid mine drainage (AMD). [...] Read more.
Acid mine drainage is an environmental problem associated with mining operations and activities. Its treatment is essential to achieving environmental sustainability. In this study, a polyethersulphone (PES) membrane infused with chitosan is proposed as a point-of-use material for treating acid mine drainage (AMD). The composite material explored the synergetic effect between chitosan and polymer, particularly considering the effect of the degree of deacetylation (DD) of chitosan on the performance of membrane. Chitosan was produced from chitin under various synthesis process conditions and infused within polyethersulphone membrane. The results obtained show that chitosan with the highest degree of deacetylation was achieved with a temperature of 100 °C and NaOH concentration of 40 wt%. Increasing the temperature above 100 °C started degrading already formed or exposed amine groups, thus, reducing the DD of the chitosan sample. The contact angle and porosity analysis indicated that the hydrophilic nature of the membrane was enhanced with increasing DD of the chitosan. The performance of the membranes was conducted on a Dead-end filtration cell using synthetic acid mine drainage. The results showed that the flux and rejection of the membrane was enhanced with increasing degree of deacetylation. PES 5 and PES 1 were blended with chitosan having the highest (95.97%) and lowest (33.93%) degree of deacetylation, respectively. PES 5 reported pure water flux of 123 L/m2·h and PES 1 was recorded as 104 L/m2·h. Similarly, the rejection of the membrane was improved with increasing chitosan’s degree of deacetylation. PES 5 had higher rejection and PES 1 had the least rejection. Maximum rejection for the contaminants was determined as 98.05, 97.39, 96.25, 95.24 and 80.34% for Mn2+, Fe2+, Mg2+ and Ca2+ and SO42−, respectively. The results obtained show that chitosan’s degree of deacetylation has a positive effect on the performance of polyethersulphone membrane during the treatment of acid mine drainage. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Point-of-use Membrane Technologies: Challenges and Opportunities)
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16 pages, 3916 KiB  
Article
Chemical Enhancement for Retrofitting Moving Bed Biofilm and Integrated Fixed Film Activated Sludge Systems into Membrane Bioreactors
by Zakhar Maletskyi, Dawit K. Zigta, Olga Kulesha and Harsha Ratnaweera
Membranes 2019, 9(10), 135; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes9100135 - 22 Oct 2019
Viewed by 3239
Abstract
Positive effects of retrofitting MBBR and IFAS systems into MBRs can be exploited by introducing chemical enhancement applying coagulants in the membrane separation step. The current study reports basic principles of chemical enhancement with aluminium sulphate coagulant in biofilm-MBR (Bf-MBR) based on results [...] Read more.
Positive effects of retrofitting MBBR and IFAS systems into MBRs can be exploited by introducing chemical enhancement applying coagulants in the membrane separation step. The current study reports basic principles of chemical enhancement with aluminium sulphate coagulant in biofilm-MBR (Bf-MBR) based on results of total recycle tests performed at different dosages of the chemical enhancer and properties characterization of filtrates, supernatants and sediments. It demonstrates a possibility to achieve lower membrane fouling rates with dosing of aluminium sulphate coagulant into MBBR and IFAS mixed liquors by extending operational cycles by 20 and 80 time respectively as well as increasing operating permeability of membrane separation by 1.3 times for IFAS. It has been found that charge neutralization is the dominating mechanism of aluminium sulphate action as a chemical enhancer in Bf-MBR, however, properties of the membrane surface influencing charge repulsion of foulants should be considered together with the secondary ability of the coagulant to improve consolidation of sediments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Point-of-use Membrane Technologies: Challenges and Opportunities)
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17 pages, 3349 KiB  
Article
Purification of Pharmaceutical Solvents by Pervaporation through Hybrid Silica Membranes
by Thomas La Rocca, Emilie Carretier, Didier Dhaler, Eric Louradour, Thien Truong and Philippe Moulin
Membranes 2019, 9(7), 76; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes9070076 - 1 Jul 2019
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4281
Abstract
Solvents purification mainly used in pharmaceutical field such as acetone and methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) were performed through hybrid silica membranes and from binary and multi-components mixtures. Two hybrid silica membranes—zirconia doped bis(triethoxysilyl)methane and bis(triethoxysilyl)ethane (BTESE)—were studied. Flux, permeance, and separation factor were [...] Read more.
Solvents purification mainly used in pharmaceutical field such as acetone and methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) were performed through hybrid silica membranes and from binary and multi-components mixtures. Two hybrid silica membranes—zirconia doped bis(triethoxysilyl)methane and bis(triethoxysilyl)ethane (BTESE)—were studied. Flux, permeance, and separation factor were evaluated depending on temperature, composition, and number of organic compounds in the feed. Dehydration tests of acetone were operated at 30 and 45 °C following by acetone and MEK purification at 50 °C from multi-components hydro-organic mixtures where hydrophilic compounds (water, methanol) but also hydrophobic (dichloromethane (DCM) and/or toluene) were present. Results showed that the presence of Zr nanoparticles affected flux and improved selectivity in the case of dehydration. Experiments related to acetone and MEK purification, revealed a mass transfer alteration and a decrease of performance, from 99 to 97 wt% and from 98 to 95 wt% respectively, when the number of compounds in the initial feed grown up and more precisely, in the presence of DCM and toluene thus highlighting a possible coupling effect. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Point-of-use Membrane Technologies: Challenges and Opportunities)
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