Main objective of the project Bionexgen, within this work has been developed, is the generation of a new class of functional membranes to be applied for wastewater treatment for Membrane Bioreactors (MBRs) and resulting in: o Reduced fouling propensity o Improved rejection of low molecular weight compounds o High water quality o High water flux Novel hydrophilic nanostructured membranes have been prepared within the Bionexgen project. Preliminary characterization tests were carried out in order to investigate novel membrane performances and compared with commercial membranes. Novel membranes showed lower water permeability in comparison to commercial ones but higher fouling resistance when a model foulant compound (humic acid) was applied. Furthermore, a higher water permeability regain was observed for novel membranes when they were backflushed after treatment with humic acid. This aspect was also considered as an another evidence of their less tendency to be affected by fouling. Contact angle measurements allowed to study the superficial properties of prepared membranes. Commercial membranes presented a contact angle of about 68° while novel membranes showed a contact angle of about 47°. A reduction of about 30% in contact angle values was found. A higher degree of hydrophilicity could result in better performances in terms of water permeability and foulant rejection. Final aim of the project was the preparation of hydrophilic nanostructured membranes to be applied in MBR technology for wastewater treatment. For this reason, model textile wastewater was used in order to evaluate membrane performances in terms of permeability, fouling resistance and dyes rejection. Although novel membranes showed lower permeability then commercial ones, they were less prone to fouling with a better dyes rejection. The highly hydrophilic membrane surface, in fact, enhances the anti-fouling properties of novel prepared membranes, providing high performance and robustness of the MBR process. Thus, maintenance cleaning was not more necessary and the frequency of recovery cleaning was drastically limited. Acknowlodgment The work is funded by Bionexgen (grant agreement n. CP-FP- 246039-2 ) EU-FP7/project.
Novel hydrophilic membranes for wastewater treatment
F Galiano;A Figoli;
2013
Abstract
Main objective of the project Bionexgen, within this work has been developed, is the generation of a new class of functional membranes to be applied for wastewater treatment for Membrane Bioreactors (MBRs) and resulting in: o Reduced fouling propensity o Improved rejection of low molecular weight compounds o High water quality o High water flux Novel hydrophilic nanostructured membranes have been prepared within the Bionexgen project. Preliminary characterization tests were carried out in order to investigate novel membrane performances and compared with commercial membranes. Novel membranes showed lower water permeability in comparison to commercial ones but higher fouling resistance when a model foulant compound (humic acid) was applied. Furthermore, a higher water permeability regain was observed for novel membranes when they were backflushed after treatment with humic acid. This aspect was also considered as an another evidence of their less tendency to be affected by fouling. Contact angle measurements allowed to study the superficial properties of prepared membranes. Commercial membranes presented a contact angle of about 68° while novel membranes showed a contact angle of about 47°. A reduction of about 30% in contact angle values was found. A higher degree of hydrophilicity could result in better performances in terms of water permeability and foulant rejection. Final aim of the project was the preparation of hydrophilic nanostructured membranes to be applied in MBR technology for wastewater treatment. For this reason, model textile wastewater was used in order to evaluate membrane performances in terms of permeability, fouling resistance and dyes rejection. Although novel membranes showed lower permeability then commercial ones, they were less prone to fouling with a better dyes rejection. The highly hydrophilic membrane surface, in fact, enhances the anti-fouling properties of novel prepared membranes, providing high performance and robustness of the MBR process. Thus, maintenance cleaning was not more necessary and the frequency of recovery cleaning was drastically limited. Acknowlodgment The work is funded by Bionexgen (grant agreement n. CP-FP- 246039-2 ) EU-FP7/project.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
