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Membrane-Based Technologies and Sustainable Wastewater Treatment

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Water Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 May 2023) | Viewed by 5226

Special Issue Editors

School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China
Interests: desalination and water/wastewater treatment technologies; advanced membrane fabrication by electrospinning technology; membrane distillation; conveyance systems for water/wastewater
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Guest Editor
Water Desalination and Reuse Center (WDRC), Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
Interests: membrane fouling; desalination; gravity-driven membrane systems; membrane distillation; biofouling; seawater desalination pretreatment
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Guest Editor
School of Civil Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
Interests: membrane-based water/wastewater treatment technologies, including decentralized water purification, nanofiltration, and membrane distillation
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Guest Editor
School of Chemical Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, China
Interests: membrane reactor; membrane catalysis; membrane process intensification

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With the rapid development of global industry, the environmental pollution caused by wastewater discharge has raised extensive concerns. Moreover, increasingly strict discharge standards have prompted the research and development of novel wastewater treatment technologies. Meanwhile, concerning the severe issue of freshwater resource shortages, while dealing with sewage, water recovery has also become a new demand for wastewater-treatment technology. To meet this challenge, traditional centralized water treatment systems are in urgent requirement of transformation. As an alternative to traditional wastewater-treatment methods, membrane-based wastewater treatment processes have attracted much attention due to their inherent simplicity, scalable modular design, easy maintenance, and excellent separation efficiency. In recent years, membrane distillation technology has been widely explored in wastewater treatment, such as dyeing wastewater treatment, oil–water separation, and recovery of valuable components in wastewater, seawater, and brine. Compared with other membrane-based treatment methods, thermally driven membrane distillation exhibits extremely high pollutant removal rates.

In this regard, the present Special Issue will aim to provide a platform for researchers to exchange their novel ideas and share research outcomes related to membrane distillation and other suitable wastewater treatment technologies.

Topics of potential relevance to this Special Issue include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Membrane distillation;
  • Pervaporation;
  • Membrane-based processes;
  • Advanced physicochemical and biological processes;
  • Industrial wastewater treatment;
  • Advanced desalination system ;
  • Oil–water separation;
  • Micropollutants removal;
  • Landfill leachate treatment;
  • Carbon footprint.

Authors are invited to submit their latest original results as full papers or short communications. Review articles, case-studies and perspectives are also welcomed.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Jiaxin Guo
Dr. Luca Fortunato
Dr. Senlin Shao
Dr. Senqing Fan
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. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2400 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

  • Membrane distillation
  • ​Advanced membrane fabrication
  • ​Membrane-based technology
  • ​Novel watewater treatment technology
  • ​Resource recovery

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 5093 KiB  
Article
Treatment of Wastewater from a Grass Carp Pond with Multiple-Batch Forward Osmosis by Using Sucrose as a Draw Solution
by Yuliang Xu, Xia Cheng and Jianghui Du
Sustainability 2022, 14(16), 10329; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141610329 - 19 Aug 2022
Viewed by 1435
Abstract
Forward osmosis (FO), a green and economical membrane technology driven by a natural concentration gradient, has attracted increasing attention for wastewater treatment because it consumes less energy and removes large amounts of pollutants. In this research, an approach based on an FO mechanism [...] Read more.
Forward osmosis (FO), a green and economical membrane technology driven by a natural concentration gradient, has attracted increasing attention for wastewater treatment because it consumes less energy and removes large amounts of pollutants. In this research, an approach based on an FO mechanism that could improve the concentration of organic pollutants in wastewater collected from grass carp ponds was proposed. The wastewater serving as a feed solution (FS) was concentrated by FO, and sucrose was used as a draw solution (DS). The multiple chemical oxygen demand (COD) variation, the water flux, and the reverse solute flux during the FO process were investigated. The results indicated that the water flux and the reverse solute flux had similar trends in the processing of batch experiments 1–8, and the concentrating multiple of organic contaminants reached a maximum of 3.5 in the whole study. In addition, membrane fouling was studied via a scanning electron microscope (SEM), and a loose cake layer was deposited on the membrane surface. Moreover, findings from energy dispersive scanning (EDS) analysis showed that the fouling substances in the support layer of the membrane were mainly organic compounds and silica. In contrast, the dominant contaminants of the active layer contained several microelements (such as K and Ca) in addition to organic compounds. Three-dimensional (3D) fluorescence analysis confirmed that the FS components could enter the DS and the chemical components of the sucrose solution could also enter the FS. The findings of this study provide a new view on selecting a DS and protecting the aquaculture environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane-Based Technologies and Sustainable Wastewater Treatment)
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Review

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20 pages, 4431 KiB  
Review
Two-Dimensional Nanomaterial (2D-NMs)-Based Polymeric Composite for Oil–Water Separation: Strategies to Improve Oil–Water Separation
by Rishabh Anand Omar, Neetu Talreja, Mohammad Ashfaq and Divya Chauhan
Sustainability 2023, 15(14), 10988; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151410988 - 13 Jul 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1330
Abstract
Oil leakage and organic solvent industrial accidents harm the ecosystem, especially aquatic and marine life. Oil–water separation is required to combat this issue, which substantially enhances the ecosystem and recovery of oils from water bodies. In this aspect, significant efforts have been made [...] Read more.
Oil leakage and organic solvent industrial accidents harm the ecosystem, especially aquatic and marine life. Oil–water separation is required to combat this issue, which substantially enhances the ecosystem and recovery of oils from water bodies. In this aspect, significant efforts have been made by scientists to develop newer composite materials that efficiently separate oils from water bodies with exceptional recyclability. Membrane filtration is an efficient option for oil–water separation due to its ability to separate oil from water without involving any chemicals. However, relatively less water permeability and a high degree of surface fouling limit their applicability. The advent of two-dimensional nanomaterials (2D-NMs) gives newer insight in developing membranes due to their exceptional characteristics like hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity, selectivity, antifouling ability, flexibility, and stability. Incorporating 2D-NMs within the polymeric membranes makes them exceptional candidates for removing oil from water. Moreover, 2D-NMs offer rapid sorption/desorption rates and boost water transportation. Additionally, 2D-NMs provide roughness that significantly enhances the fouling resistance in the polymeric membrane. This review focuses on properties of 2D-NM-based polymeric membrane and their roles in oil–water separation. We also discussed strategies to improve the oil–water separation efficiency. Finally, we discussed oil–water separation’s outlook and prospects using 2D-NM-based polymeric membranes. This review might provide new insight to the researchers who work on oil–water separation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane-Based Technologies and Sustainable Wastewater Treatment)
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18 pages, 387 KiB  
Review
A Review on Adsorbable Organic Halogens Treatment Technologies: Approaches and Application
by Halyna Yankovych, Miroslava Vaclavikova and Inna Melnyk
Sustainability 2023, 15(12), 9601; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15129601 - 15 Jun 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1986
Abstract
Halogen-containing organic substances have a detrimental and toxic impact on the environment and human health due to their high stability, carcinogenic effects, and ability to accumulate when ingested. The production and release of these substances have significantly increased in recent decades, resulting in [...] Read more.
Halogen-containing organic substances have a detrimental and toxic impact on the environment and human health due to their high stability, carcinogenic effects, and ability to accumulate when ingested. The production and release of these substances have significantly increased in recent decades, resulting in a lack of effective treatment technologies. Adsorbable organic halogens (AOX), a specific parameter used to monitor pollution, represents the total amount of chlorinated, brominated, and iodinated organics that can be adsorbed on activated carbon from various environments. This paper provides an overview of selected articles from the past three decades (1990–2023) focusing on the primary natural and industrial sources of AOX. It also evaluates different determination techniques and a variety of removal approaches based on biological, physical, chemical, and combined processes. Additionally, the limitations and efficiency of these approaches are briefly characterized. While biochemical and physical methods have been limited by financial constraints and reduced efficiency, biological, chemical, and physicochemical techniques have shown significant potential in improving water quality. This knowledge can be valuable for the development of alternative water treatment techniques and underscores the importance of sustainable water usage. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane-Based Technologies and Sustainable Wastewater Treatment)
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