• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.139-158
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• 2010

This work focuses on the application of nanofiltration (NF) to the concentration of a pharmaceutical product, Clavulanate ($CA^-$), from clarified fermentation broths, which show a complex composition with six main identified ions ($K^+$, $Cl^-$, ${NH_4}^+$, $H_2{PO_4}^-$, ${SO_4}^{2-}$ and $CA^-$), glucose and glycerol. The solutes transport through the NF membrane pores was investigated using the SEDE (Steric, Electric and Dielectric Exclusion) model. This model was applied to predict the rejection rates of the initial feed solution and the final concentrated solution (10-fold concentrated solution). The best results were achieved with a single fitted parameter, ${\varepsilon}_p$ (the dielectric constant of the solution inside pores) and considering that the membrane selectivity is governed by steric, electric (Donnan) and Born dielectric exclusion mechanisms. While the predicted intrinsic rejections of solutions comprising up to six ions and uncharged solutes were in good agreement with the experimental values, the deviations were much larger for the 10-fold concentrated solution.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.103-120
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• 2010

Surface modification of microfiltration and ultrafiltration membranes has been widely used to improve the protein adsorption resistance and permeation properties of hydrophobic membranes. Several surface modification methods for converting conventional membranes into low-protein-binding membranes are reviewed. They are categorized as either physical modification or chemical modification of the membrane surface. Physical modification of the membrane surface can be achieved by coating it with hydrophilic polymers, hydrophilic-hydrophobic copolymers, surfactants or proteins. Another method of physical modification is plasma treatment with gases. A hydrophilic membrane surface can be also generated during phase-inverted micro-separation during membrane formation, by blending hydrophilic or hydrophilic-hydrophobic polymers with a hydrophobic base membrane polymer. The most widely used method of chemical modification is surface grafting of a hydrophilic polymer by UV polymerization because it is the easiest method; the membranes are dipped into monomers with and without photo-initiators, then irradiated with UV. Plasma-induced polymerization of hydrophilic monomers on the surface is another popular method, and surface chemical reactions have also been developed by several researchers. Several important examples of physical and chemical modifications of membrane surfaces for low-protein-binding are summarized in this article.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.193-206
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• 2010

Organic fouling and biofouling pose a significant challenge to the membrane filtration process. Photocatalysis-membrane hybrid system is a novel idea for reducing these membranes fouling however, when $TiO_2 photocatalyst nanoparticles are used in suspension, catalyst recovery is not only imposes an extra step on the process but also significantly contributes to increased membrane resistance and reduced permeate flux. In this study, $TiO_2$ photocatalyst has been immobilized by coating on the microfiltration (MF) membrane surface to minimize organic and microbial fouling. Nano-sized $TiO_2$ was first synthesized by a sol-gel method. The synthesized $TiO_2$ was coated on a Poly Vinyl Difluoride (PVDF) membrane (MF) surface using spray coating and dip coating techniques to obtain hybrid functional composite membrane. The characteristics of the synthesized photocatalyst and a functional composite membrane were studied using numerous instruments in terms of physical, chemical and electrical properties. In comparison to the clean PVDF membrane, the $TiO_2$ coated MF membrane was found more effective in removing methylene blue (20%) and E-coli (99%).

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.393-409
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• 2015

Zinc and lead pollution are public environmental issues that have attracted lots of attention for a long time. Landfill leachate contains heavy metals, such as Zn(II) and Pb(II), which are usually related to the pollution of groundwater, especially in developing countries. Bentonite has been proven to be effective in enhancing the membrane property of clay, by which landfill liners can have better barrier performance towards the migration of contaminants. In this study, 5% sodium bentonite amended with locally available Fukakusa clay was utilized to evaluate the membrane behavior towards the heavy metals zinc and lead. The chemico-osmotic efficiency coefficient, ${\omega}$, was obtained through Zn(II) and Pb(II) solutions with different concentrations of 0.5, 1, 5, 10, and 50 mM. According to the results, ${\omega}$ continually decreased as the Zn(II) and Pb(II) concentrations increased, which is consistent with the Gouy-Chapman theory. Compared to normal inorganic ions, the membrane behavior towards heavy metal ions was lower. The migration of heavy metal ions was not observed based on experimental results, which can be attributed to the adsorption or ion exchange reaction. The mechanisms of the membrane performance change were discussed with the assistance of XRD patterns, free swelling results, XRF results, and SEM images.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.351-363
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• 2015

To increase the surface hydrophilicity of PVDF membranes, in this paper, an electric enhancing method was adopted to treat PVDF nascent membranes during the phase inversion process. It was found that when PEG 600 was taken as the additive, the surface water contact angle of the PVDF membrane treated under 2 kV electric field was decreased from $84.0^{\circ}$ to $65.7^{\circ}$. The reason for the surface elements change of the PVDF membranes prepared under the electric field was analyzed in detail with the dielectric parameters of the polymer dope solutions. Results from BSA adsorption experiment showed that the antifouling ability of the external electric field-treated membranes was distinctly enhanced when compared with that of the untreated membranes. The amount of BSA adsorbed by the treated membranes was lower by 38-43%. Compared with the common chemical reaction methods to synthesize hydrophilic additives or membrane materials, the electric field-assisted processing method did not involve any additional chemical synthesis process and it was capable of realizing better hydrophilicity.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.295-304
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• 2014

Adipic acid (hexane-1,6-dioic acid) is one of the most used chemical in industrial applications. This must be separated from any environmental contaminant. In this study, adipic acid separation from wastewater by adsorption method onto Perlite or Perlite + Mn or Perlite + Cu composites was investigated. Adsorption of Adipic acid was investigated in terms of equilibrium, and thermodynamic conditions. For thermodynamic investigations the experiments carried out at three different temperatures (298 K, 318 K, 328 K). In the equilibrium studies, 2 g of perlite and its composites were determined as the optimal adsorbent amount. Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms were applied to the experimental data. Freundlich isotherms for all temperatures used in this work gave some deviations with R square values under 0.98 where as Langmuir isotherm gave good results with R square values upper 0.99 at different temperatures. As a result of thermodynamic studies, adsorption enthalpy (${\Delta}H$), adsorption entropy (${\Delta}S$), and adsorption free energy (${\Delta}G$) have been calculated for each adsorbents.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.281-293
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• 2014

The present work aimed to study the decolorization kinetics and characteristics of a selected azo dye under the influence of two key operational parameters including hydraulic retention time (HRT) and solid retention time (SRT). The decolorization efficiency and the two important criteria of k and normalized k (k/MLSS) were evaluated in lab-scale membrane sequencing batch reactors (MSBRs) at various HRTs of 48, 24 and 16 h (with constant SRT) and in addition, at various SRTs of infinity, 40 and 10 d (with constant HRT). According to the obtained results, both zero and first-order kinetics were properly fitted the decolorization profiles of the selected azo dye in all of the applied HRTs and SRTs. Increase of both HRT and SRT positively affected the decolorization efficiency. More MLSS concentrations corresponded to the lower HRTs and the higher SRTs resulted in higher decolorization rate constants (k). However, the effect of reducing the HRT was not compensated by increase of the MLSS concentration in order to reach higher decolorization efficiency. In addition, increase of the decolorization efficiency, as a consequence of the higher MLSS concentrations at longer SRTs, was restrained by decrease of the time-limited decolorization capability of biomass (represented by normalized k). Evaluation of both k and normalized k is suggested in order to have a more precise study on the decolorization kinetics and characteristics.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.235-250
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• 2014

The impacts of membrane degradation due to chlorine attack on the rejection of inorganic salts and trace organic contaminants by nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes were investigated in this study. The rejection of trace contaminants was examined at environmentally relevant concentrations. Changes in the membrane surface morphology were observed as a result of chlorine exposure. A small increase in rejection was consistently observed with all four membranes selected in this study after being exposed to a low concentration of hypochlorite (100 ppm). In contrast, a higher concentration of hypochlorite (i.e., 2000 ppm) could be detrimental to the membrane separation capacity. Membranes with severe chlorine impact showed a considerable decrease in rejection over filtration time, possibly due to rearrangement of the polyamide chains under the influence of chlorine degradation and filtration pressure. The reported results indicate that loose NF membranes are more sensitive to chlorine exposure than RO membranes. The impact of hypochlorite exposure (both positive and negative) on rejection is dependent on the strength of the hypochlorite solution and is more significant for the neutral carbamazepine compound than the negatively charged sulfamethoxazole.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2013

The process of electromembrane transformation of L-lysine monohydrochlorides into their zwitterionic form in four- and two-chamber electrodialysis apparatus was investigated. The process of transformation at various concentrations of lysine monohydrochloride (0.1-0.6 mol.L-1) was studied and it was established that at the optimum density of current optimal concentrations of lysine hydrochloride during electrodyalisis was in the range of 0.2-0.4 mol.L-1. It was determined that the process of total transformation was accomplished when pH of the lysine solution achieved 10. Changes of concentrations of $Cl^-$ ions and lysine diffused into the neighboring chamber were determined depending on the time. The method developed by us allows adjusting the removal coefficient of $Cl^-$ ions during transformation to a maximal value, the losses of lysine diffused into the next chamber after its return to the technological cycle being less than 1.0 %. The specific energy consumption during the process of transformation in two- and four-chamber electrodialyzers was 0.19 and 0.205 A.h.kg-1 and the current efficiency was 75.9 and 73.1 %, correspondingly. Study of the process of electromembrane transformation allowed obtaining zwitterionic form of L-lysine from L-lysine monohydrochloride with minimal reagent and energy consumption.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.53-67
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• 2013

In this study, ageing characteristics of an industrial hollow-fiber membrane module were investigated after 50 months of drinking water production. For this purpose, the industrial module was opened to make 18 smaller modules with hollow-fibers taken from different parts of the industrial module. These modules were probed by the use of a magnetic nanoparticle (NP) challenge test based on magnetic susceptibility (K) measurement of permeate. No magnetic susceptibility was detected in permeate when the challenge test was performed on an intact membrane module, indicating the complete retention of nanoparticles by the membrane. The compromised membrane module can be successfully detected by means of magnetic susceptibility measurement in permeate. So, this study clearly demonstrates that ageing of ultrafiltration membranes can be monitored by measuring the magnetic susceptibility of permeate from an ultrafiltration membrane module. These results showed that the hollow fibers in the center zones of the bundle would age faster than those in the outer zones around the bundle. This result is in agreement with numerical simulation (Daurelle et al. 2011).