Recent Advances in Fighting Membrane Scaling: Experiment, Simulation and Industry Advances

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 May 2023) | Viewed by 5871

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Physical Chemistry Department, Kuban State University, 149 Stavropolskaya str., 350040 Krasnodar, Russia
Interests: ion-exchange membranes (IEMs) and electrodialysis processes; transport phenomena in systems with IEMs; concentration polarization; limiting current; coupled phenomena of concentration polarization (water splitting, electroconvection, gravitation convection, etc.); hydrodynamics; mathematical modeling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Physical Chemistry Department, Kuban State University, 149 Stavropolskaya str., 350040 Krasnodar, Russia
Interests: Ion-exchange membranes (IEMs) and electrodialysis processes; transport phenomena in systems with IEMs; concentration polarization; limiting current; coupled phenomena of concentration polarization (water splitting, electroconvection, gravitation convection, etc.); application of pulsed electric field modes; IEM characterization (structure–properties relationship, current–voltage characteristics, chronopotentiommetry, etc.) and modification; IEM scaling

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Physical Chemistry Department, Kuban State University, 149 Stavropolskaya str., 350040 Krasnodar, Russia
Interests: Ion-exchange membranes (IEMs) and electrodialysis processes; neutralization dialysis; IEM fouling; IEM scaling; transport phenomena in systems with IEMs; concentration polarization; coupled phenomena of concentration polarization (water splitting, electroconvection, gravitation convection, etc.); IEM characterization (structure–properties relationship, current–voltage characteristics, chronopotentiommetry); IEM modification; permselectivity

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Through our engagement in experimental and theoretical research of membranes and membrane processes, we noticed that, despite its 60-year history in the field of membrane science, the problem of the scaling phenomenon still has no satisfactory solution. In industry, applying membrane methods requires the pretreatment of processed solutions when there is a risk of scaling. Solutions are rid of multiply charged ions by directly introducing complexing agents and scale inhibitors (antiscalants) during processing or the pretreatment of solutions. However, the addition of chemicals inevitably increases operating costs, and these chemicals can be sorbed onto membranes, which leads to fouling.

In the long term, scaling inside and on the surface of membranes leads to a decrease in their permeability, shortens their lifespan and increases the energy consumption and cost of the final product, mainly because the electrodialyzer must be washed and the membranes replaced.

Due to the vital importance of developing methods to fight membrane scaling, we are pleased to invite you to submit your contributions to this Special Issue of the Membranes journal, entitled “Recent Advances in Fighting Membrane Scaling: Experiment, Simulation and Industry Advances”.

The aim of this Special Issue is to gain an understanding of current methods for fighting membrane scaling, which may include, but are not limited to, the following:

– Membrane modifications;

– Application of special current or hydrodynamic modes;

– Expedient use of complexing agents and scale inhibitors;

– Mathematical modeling of systems prone to scaling.

We would be happy to answer your questions and look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Semyon Mareev
Dr. Dmitrii Butylskii
Dr. Mikhail Porozhnyy
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 2700 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

  • inorganic fouling
  • scaling
  • ion-exchange membrane
  • porous membrane
  • modeling
  • electrodialysis
  • reverse electrodialysis
  • reverse osmosis

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 4674 KiB  
Article
Tyrosine Amino Acid as a Foulant for the Heterogeneous Anion Exchange Membrane
by Anastasiia Kharina and Tatiana Eliseeva
Membranes 2023, 13(10), 844; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes13100844 - 22 Oct 2023
Viewed by 1317
Abstract
The features of organic fouling have been revealed for highly basic anion exchange membranes during prolonged electrodialysis in solutions containing the aromatic amino acid tyrosine. With increased operation time when using MA-41 heterogeneous membranes in tyrosine solution, an increase in hydrophobicity and roughness [...] Read more.
The features of organic fouling have been revealed for highly basic anion exchange membranes during prolonged electrodialysis in solutions containing the aromatic amino acid tyrosine. With increased operation time when using MA-41 heterogeneous membranes in tyrosine solution, an increase in hydrophobicity and roughness characteristics of the material surface is detected. A reduction in tyrosine flux through the membrane occurs which is caused by its pores plugging and deposition of the amino acid at the membrane surface induced by tyrosine adsorption and local supersaturation of the solution in the membrane phase. The long-term contact of the anion exchange membrane with a solution of tyrosine leads to some structural changes in the anion exchange material. An accumulation of the studied amino acid with phenolic fragment and tyrosine oxidation products (DOPA, DOPA-quinone) is found and confirmed by IR- and UV-spectroscopy techniques. The organic fouling is accompanied by an increase in density and a decrease in moisture content of the studied membrane. A comparative analysis of the chemical and electrochemical cleaning results for fouled samples of the MA-41 membrane demonstrates a partial restoration of the material transport characteristics using electrochemical cleaning in the intensive current mode of electrodialysis. The best efficiency of regeneration is reached when carrying out chemical cleaning with a solution of hydrochloric acid, providing almost complete restoration of the membrane characteristics. Full article
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15 pages, 4271 KiB  
Article
The Selection of Efficient Antiscalant for RO Facility, Control of Its Quality and Evaluation of the Economical Efficiency of Its Application
by Dmitry Spitsov, Htet Zaw Aung and Alexei Pervov
Membranes 2023, 13(1), 85; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes13010085 - 09 Jan 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1947
Abstract
Adsorption of polymeric inhibitor molecules to calcium carbonate crystal surface was investigated. Inhibiting efficiencies of phosphonic acid-based antiscalants are dependent on the amount of adsorbed material on the growing crystal surface. A strong antiscalant even at a small dose provides the necessary rate [...] Read more.
Adsorption of polymeric inhibitor molecules to calcium carbonate crystal surface was investigated. Inhibiting efficiencies of phosphonic acid-based antiscalants are dependent on the amount of adsorbed material on the growing crystal surface. A strong antiscalant even at a small dose provides the necessary rate of adsorption. Comparison of two phosphonic-based antiscalants was made both in laboratory and industrial conditions. A distinguishing feature of the strong antiscalant is the presence of aminotris (metylene-diphosphonic acid) ATMP. Experimental dependencies of antiscalant adsorption rates on the antiscalant dosage values were determined. Emphasis is given to the use of nanofiltration membranes that possess lower scaling propensities. Modernization is presented to reduce operational costs due to antiscalant and nanofiltration membranes. The main conclusion is that control of scaling should be implemented together with the use of nanofiltration membranes. Full article
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22 pages, 8786 KiB  
Article
Efficient Anion-Exchange Membranes with Anti-Scaling Properties Obtained by Surface Modification of Commercial Membranes Using a Polyquaternium-22
by Dmitrii Y. Butylskii, Vasiliy A. Troitskiy, Maria A. Ponomar, Ilya A. Moroz, Konstantin G. Sabbatovskiy and Mikhail V. Sharafan
Membranes 2022, 12(11), 1065; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12111065 - 29 Oct 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1752
Abstract
Anion-exchange membranes modified with a polyquaternium-22 (PQ-22) polymer were studied for their use in electrodialysis. The use of PQ-22 for modification makes it possible to “replace” weakly basic amino groups on the membrane surface with quaternary amino groups. It was found that the [...] Read more.
Anion-exchange membranes modified with a polyquaternium-22 (PQ-22) polymer were studied for their use in electrodialysis. The use of PQ-22 for modification makes it possible to “replace” weakly basic amino groups on the membrane surface with quaternary amino groups. It was found that the content of quaternary amino groups in PQ-22 is higher than the content of carboxyl groups, which is the reason for the effectiveness of this polymer even when modifying Ralex AHM-PES membranes that initially contain only quaternary amino groups. In the case of membranes containing weakly basic amino groups, the PQ-22 polymer modification efficiency is even higher. The surface charge of the modified MA-41P membrane increased, while the limiting current density on the current-voltage curves increased by more than 1.5 times and the plateau length decreased by 2.5 times. These and other characteristics indicate that the rate of water splitting decreased and the electroconvective mixing at the membrane surface intensified, which was confirmed by direct visualization of vortex structures. Increasing the surface charge of the commercial MA-41P anion-exchange membrane, reducing the rate of water splitting, and enhancing electroconvection leads to mitigated scaling on its surface during electrodialysis. Full article
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