Active and Reactive Membranes for Desalination, Water and Wastewater Treatment

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 March 2022) | Viewed by 6838

Special Issue Editor


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical Engineering, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L7, Canada
Interests: electrochemical membranes; electrochemistry; nano-composites; bipolar membranes; ion-exchange mem-branes; membrane manufacturing; thin films; hollow fibers; water and wastewater treatment; value from waste
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The concept of active or reactive membranes for liquid separations has gained significant attention in academia because of their great potential for transforming conventional membrane operations. This includes membranes that couple reactions to separations, incorporate sensing systems within membranes, promote or enhance anti-fouling, and enable responsive or adaptive selectivity. The focus of this research is often focused on new chemistries and materials, but has also increasingly been directed towards electrical, electrochemical, or electrothermal properties of enhanced membranes. Active membranes can lead to process intensification (e.g., reactions combined with separations) or to enhancements in membrane operational abilities (e.g., enhanced anti-fouling), which can simplify treatment, reduce plant footprints, minimize and/or simplify waste streams, or enable membrane separations that would otherwise not be economically feasible. As such, active membranes are poised to replace conventional passive membranes as the next generation of separations technology.

This Special Issue on “Active and Reactive Membranes for Desalination, Water and Wastewater Treatment” of the journal Membranes seeks contributions to assess the state-of-the-art and future developments in the field of active or reactive membranes. Topics include, but are not limited to, responsive materials, embedded sensing systems, electrochemical or electrically conductive membranes, electrothermal or thermally conductive membranes, manufacturing techniques, module and reactor design, and novel applications. Authors are invited to submit their latest results; both original papers and reviews are welcome.

Dr. Charles-François de Lannoy
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

  • Electrochemical or electrically conductive membranes
  • Responsive surfaces for separations applications
  • Separations coupled to reactions
  • Membrane sensors
  • Membrane process intensification

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

18 pages, 2930 KiB  
Article
Catalytic Reduction of Graphene Oxide Membranes and Water Selective Channel Formation in Water–Alcohol Separations
by Yushi Zang, Alex Peek, Yongsoon Shin, David Gotthold and Bruce J. Hinds
Membranes 2021, 11(5), 317; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11050317 - 26 Apr 2021
Viewed by 2314
Abstract
Graphene oxide (GO) is a promising membrane system for chemical separation applications due to its 2-D nanofluidics properties and an ability to control interplanar spacing for selectivity. The permeance of water, methanol (MeOH) and isopropyl alcohol (IPA) through 5 µm thick membranes was [...] Read more.
Graphene oxide (GO) is a promising membrane system for chemical separation applications due to its 2-D nanofluidics properties and an ability to control interplanar spacing for selectivity. The permeance of water, methanol (MeOH) and isopropyl alcohol (IPA) through 5 µm thick membranes was found to be 0.38 ± 0.15, 0.33 ± 0.16 and 0.42 ± 0.31 LMH/bar (liter/m2·h·bar), respectively. Interestingly, the permeance of a water–alcohol mixture was found to be dramatically lower (~0.01 LMH/bar) than any of its components. Upon removing the solvent mixture, the transmembrane flux of the pure solvent was recovered to near the original permeance. The interlayer space of a dried GO membrane was found to be 8.52 Å, which increased to 12.19 Å. 13.26 Å and 16.20 Å upon addition of water, MeOH and IPA. A decrease in d-space, about 2 Å, was consistently observed when adding alcohol to water wetted GO membrane and an optical color change and reduction in permeance. A newly proposed mechanism of a partial reduction of GO through a catalytic reaction with the water–alcohol mixture is consistent with experimental observations. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 2364 KiB  
Article
Performance of an Integrated Membrane Process with Electrochemical Pre-Treatment on Poultry Slaughterhouse Wastewater Purification
by Kulyash Meiramkulova, Davud Devrishov, Mikhail Zhumagulov, Sholpan Arystanova, Zhaskhaiyr Karagoishin, Saida Marzanova, Aliya Kydyrbekova, Timoth Mkilima and Jianxin Li
Membranes 2020, 10(10), 256; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes10100256 - 24 Sep 2020
Cited by 27 | Viewed by 3975
Abstract
Industrial activities produce a variety of pollutants that may not be easily treated using centralized wastewater treatment systems based on a single treatment unit. The variability of the pollutants brings the importance of industrial-specific integrated wastewater treatment plants such as integrated membrane filtration [...] Read more.
Industrial activities produce a variety of pollutants that may not be easily treated using centralized wastewater treatment systems based on a single treatment unit. The variability of the pollutants brings the importance of industrial-specific integrated wastewater treatment plants such as integrated membrane filtration systems. However, the performance of a membrane filtration process can be highly affected by the presence of high amounts of suspended particles in the raw wastewater. Therefore, proper selection of a pre-treatment unit prior to a membrane filtration wastewater treatment system is a key aspect of its performance. This study investigated the performance of an integrated membrane filtration treatment system connected to an electrochemical process (pre-treatment) on the purification of a poultry slaughterhouse wastewater toward achieving a high-quality effluent. The industrial-scale treatment plant installed at the Izhevsk Production Corporative (PC) poultry farm in Kazakhstan is composed of an electrochemical, ultrafiltration (UF), and reverse osmosis (RO) as the main treatment units. From the analysis results, the electrochemical pre-treatment unit was observed to be highly effective for the removal of some physicochemical parameters such as turbidity, color, total suspended solids, total iron, aluminum, chemical oxygen demand, and biochemical oxygen demand; with removal efficiency ranging from 71 to 85%. The low removal efficiency of the pre-treatment system was also observed from free and total chlorine, nitrites, nitrates, phosphates, and ammonium nitrogen; with removal efficiency ranging from 4 to 45%. While in general, the overall treatment train was observed to be highly efficient for some physicochemical parameters such as turbidity, color, total suspended solids, as well as chemical and biochemical oxygen demand; maintaining almost 100% removal efficiency throughout the study period. Also, the high removal efficiency of the electrochemical pre-treatment processes led to a relatively low rate of cake formation on the membrane filters. Full article
Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Back to TopTop