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Membranes
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Performance Improvement of Membranes with Additives for Water Treatment
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Performance Improvement of Membranes with Additives for Water Treatment

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 August 2023) | Viewed by 4684

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Lebea N. Nthunya

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Guest Editor
School of Chemistry, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg 2050, South Africa
Interests: membrane water desalination technologies

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite researchers working on membrane processes for economic desalination of seawater, produced water, and industrially discharged brines.

This Special Issue aims to address factors negatively impacting the performance of different membrane technologies in water desalination and mitigation strategies employed to improve process efficiency. Factors needing attention include membrane fouling, wetting, temperature, and concentration polarization.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  1. Effects of fouling, wetting, and temperature/concentration polarization on membrane-based water desalination technologies;
  2. Pressure-driven processes (RO) for seawater desalination;
  3. The role of membranes for water reuse in integrated water resources management;
  4. Application of membrane crystallization for simultaneous recovery of fresh water and minerals from industrially discharged brines;
  5. Occurrence of biofouling in membrane distillation and mitigation strategies to control biofilm formation;
  6. Various pretreatment methods for fouling control in membrane processes;
  7. Nanotechnology-based membranes for wastewater treatment;
  8. Membrane-based technologies for wastewater treatment and reuse in future cities;
  9. Historical development of membranes for wastewater treatment and reuse;
  10. Latest developments toward improved membrane-based desalination technologies.

I look forward to receiving your contributions. 

Dr. Lebea N. Nthunya
Guest Editor

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

  • desalination
  • wastewater treatment and reuse
  • mineral recovery
  • factors affecting membrane processes

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 7530 KiB  
Article
Nanoparticle-Enhanced PVDF Flat-Sheet Membranes for Seawater Desalination in Direct Contact Membrane Distillation
by Indira Chimanlal, Lebea N. Nthunya, Oranso T. Mahlangu, Bastian Kirkebæk, Aamer Ali, Cejna A. Quist-Jensen and Heidi Richards
Membranes 2023, 13(3), 317; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes13030317 - 09 Mar 2023
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2111
Abstract
In this study, hydrophobic functionalized carbon nanotubes (fCNTs) and silica nanoparticles (fSiO2NPs) were incorporated into polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) flat-sheet membranes to improve their performance in membrane distillation (MD). The performance of the as-synthesized membranes was evaluated against commercial reference polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) [...] Read more.
In this study, hydrophobic functionalized carbon nanotubes (fCNTs) and silica nanoparticles (fSiO2NPs) were incorporated into polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) flat-sheet membranes to improve their performance in membrane distillation (MD). The performance of the as-synthesized membranes was evaluated against commercial reference polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) flat-sheet membranes. The water contact angle (WCA) and liquid entry pressure (LEP) of the PVDF membrane were compromised after incorporation of hydrophilic pore forming polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). These parameters were key in ensuring high salt rejections in MD processes. Upon incorporation of fCNTS and fSiO2NPs, WCA and LEP improved to 103.61° and 590 kPa, respectively. Moreover, the NP additives enhanced membrane surface roughness. Thus, an increase in membrane roughness improved WCA and resistance to membrane wetting. High salt rejection (>99%) and stable fluxes (39.77 kg m−2 h−1) were recorded throughout a 3 h process evaluation where 3.5 wt% NaCl solution was used as feed. These findings were recorded at feed temperature of 60 ℃. Evidently, this study substantiated the necessity of high feed temperatures towards high rates of water recovery. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Performance Improvement of Membranes with Additives for Water Treatment)
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21 pages, 7454 KiB  
Article
Nylon 6,6 Waste Nanofiber Membrane for Produced Water Filtration: Experimental, Performance Modelling, Optimization and Techno-Economic Analysis
by Nur Syakinah Abd Halim, Shafiq Mohd Hizam, Wan Mohamad Syameer Wan Suhaimi, Ahmad Syahmi Ahmad Farid, Puteri Nur Khaliesah Abd Rahman, Mohd Dzul Hakim Wirzal, Nonni Soraya Sambudi and Nik Abdul Hadi Md Nordin
Membranes 2023, 13(2), 224; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes13020224 - 11 Feb 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1778
Abstract
Produced water (PW) is a by-product of oil and gas extraction, of which it is deemed as the primary contributor of wastewater stream in oil production. Conventional treatment such as membrane separation is favoured due to its sustainability and cost effectiveness. On the [...] Read more.
Produced water (PW) is a by-product of oil and gas extraction, of which it is deemed as the primary contributor of wastewater stream in oil production. Conventional treatment such as membrane separation is favoured due to its sustainability and cost effectiveness. On the other hand, oceanic litters such as abandoned fishing nets endangered the marine life ecosystem, despite of its potential to be raw material for fabrication of nanofiber membrane (NFM). This study explores the potential usage of electrospun nylon 6,6 waste NFM for treatment of real PW. In terms of modelling, it is found that feed concentration is the dominant factor with R2 of 0.94 for permeate concentration response and 0.91 for average flux response. Moreover, the optimized system with average flux of 216.5 L/m2h with low specific power consumption of ca. 0.09 kWh/m3 is proven to be economically feasible with less than 5% error from predicted model. As for technoeconomic analysis, it is found that permeate flux plays the major role in controlling total capital cost (CAPEX) and operating cost (OPEX) of the system. The lowest total CAPEX and OPEX to achieve 10 ppm of permeate concentration, also was found to be RM 3.7 M and RM/year 1660, hence proving the economic feasibility of the proposed system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Performance Improvement of Membranes with Additives for Water Treatment)
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