Novel Membrane Processes for Water Treatment

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is devoted to evaluating the viability of applying novel membrane processes to water treatment. Examples of innovative membrane processes include, but are not limited to, membrane contactors (membrane distillation, osmotic membrane distillation, etc.) and forward osmosis, among others. These technologies have been developed recently and are of growing interest in water production and wastewater treatment. Indeed, research papers on novel membrane technologies are growing exponentially due to their enormous potential: an increasing tendency has been observed over the past five years.

New emergent membrane processes have promising advantages compared to conventional membrane technologies, such as low energy requirements as they operate without pressure, low chemical consumption as membrane fouling is low, and the simultaneous production of a high-quality water stream and another highly concentrated stream of invaluable products. Recent studies have reported very high separation efficiencies in different applications. However, further studies are needed to cope with detected problems in the complex characteristics of the treated streams. This Special Issue considers the production of freshwater and processed water alongside wastewater treatments. Additionally, the development of membrane materials for these novel membrane processes is covered. Both original research and reviews are welcome.

Dr. María Cinta Vincent-Vela
Prof. Dr. Silvia Álvarez Blanco
Dr. Magdalena Cifuentes Cabezas
Guest Editors

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• membrane contactors
• forward osmosis
• membrane distillation
• osmotic membrane distillation
• novel membrane processes
• water production
• wastewater treatment

Title: Electrodeionization for wastewater reuse in petrochemical plants

Authors: Andréia B. Santos^a, Alexandre Giacobbo^a, Marco Antônio S. Rodrigues^b, Andréa Moura Bernardes^a

Affiliation: 

^a Programa de Pós-graduação de Engenharia de Minas e Materiais, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

^b Programa de Pós-graduação em Tecnologias dos Materiais e Processos Industriais, Universidade Feevale, Brazil

Abstract:

Circular economy in petrochemical plants refers to a sustainability and production practice that aims to maximize the use of resources, minimize waste, and reduce the industry's environmental footprint. This is accomplished by implementing more efficient production practices and incorporating recovery, recycling, and reuse strategies for materials throughout the product life cycle. One of the strategies that the petrochemical industry can adopt to implement the circular economy includes the reuse of by-products and wastes. Thus, the objective of this study was to apply membrane and electromembrane separation processes to produce industrial water from tertiary petrochemical effluents, to reuse them in processes such as cooling towers, firefighting and boiler feeding. The technologies used for treating the petrochemical wastewater were defined after characterizing the effluents. The effluents were treated in a pilot plant with a capacity of 1 m³/h by a hybrid process of ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis and electrodeionization. The physical-chemical parameters of interest and maximum limits in industrial water were pre-determined by the industries. Operating parameters such as flow, pressure, percentage of recovery, current, were monitored along with the frequency of chemical cleaning. The industrial water produced reached the required quality for reuse in the petrochemical industry. In addition, specific energy consumption, use of chemicals, spare materials, equipment, and labor were determined to support the technical feasibility study for the implementation of an industrial plant with a production capacity of 100m³/h.

Keywords: Circular Economy, ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis, eletrodeionization