Nowadays, hundred thousands of people suffer, due to limited access to clean and fresh water. In several countries, water sources are reduced and polluted. It is widely recognised that membrane technologies represent a viable, competitive and sustainable choice, which can help to meet the pressing demand for fresh water in the world. On the one hand, membrane processes are characterized by a high quality of effluents. On the other hand, they are in perfect agreement with the logic of process intensification and may aid in solving other major concerns, connected to depletion of resources, constantly increasing oil prices and global warming. In particular, reverse osmosis (RO) represents one of the most relevant technologies for desalination of sea and brackish water, which represent the 97.5% of total water present on Earth [1]. This technology is constantly spreading up; membrane scientists and engineers efforts are devoted at improving its efficiency and productivity and at reducing costs. This can be achieved by improving membrane performance, increasing its stability, flux and rejection and reducing its susceptibility to scaling, fouling and biofouling. Furthermore, RO can work in synergy with other pressure-driven membrane operations; in fact, water pre-treatment through microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF) and nanofiltration (NF) can give a fundamental contribution in terms of overall process economics. NAWADES (Nanotechnological Application in WAter DESalination) [2] is a collaborative research project, co-financed by the European Commission within the 7th Framework Program (FP7). The project started in October 2012 and will finish after 4 years, in September 2016. NAWADES involves 11 partners from 6 countries: Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, Spain, Austria and Sweden. The NAWADES project aims at improving the efficiency of the RO membrane process by developing a new integrated membrane system for seawater desalination that does not suffer from organic fouling and inorganic scaling. Long-life and antifouling hollow membranes will ensure higher efficiency, reduced energy consumption (lower pressure), and less maintenance (lower cost), thank to the reduction of concentration polarization and organic fouling. These goals will be achieved through the integration between RO and pressure-driven membrane pre-treatment step (UF). Membranes will be endowed with anti-fouling and/or self-cleaning properties by studying new coating treatments and exploiting the synergy between polymers and inorganic nanomaterials. References [1] E. Drioli, E. Curcio, G. Di Profio, F. Macedonio, A. Criscuoli, Integrating membrane contactors technology and pressure-driven membrane operations for seawater desalination, energy, exergy and costs analysis, Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 84(A3) (2006) 209-220. [2] F. Macedonio, E. Drioli, A.A. Gusev, A. Bardow, R. Semiat, M. Kurihara, Efficient technologies for worldwide clean water supply, Chemical Engineering and Processing 51 (2012) 2- 17. [3] http://www.nawades.eu/ Acknowledgements The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement N°308439

Nanotechnological Application in Water Desalination: NAWADES

A Figoli;S Simone;E Drioli
2015

Abstract

Nowadays, hundred thousands of people suffer, due to limited access to clean and fresh water. In several countries, water sources are reduced and polluted. It is widely recognised that membrane technologies represent a viable, competitive and sustainable choice, which can help to meet the pressing demand for fresh water in the world. On the one hand, membrane processes are characterized by a high quality of effluents. On the other hand, they are in perfect agreement with the logic of process intensification and may aid in solving other major concerns, connected to depletion of resources, constantly increasing oil prices and global warming. In particular, reverse osmosis (RO) represents one of the most relevant technologies for desalination of sea and brackish water, which represent the 97.5% of total water present on Earth [1]. This technology is constantly spreading up; membrane scientists and engineers efforts are devoted at improving its efficiency and productivity and at reducing costs. This can be achieved by improving membrane performance, increasing its stability, flux and rejection and reducing its susceptibility to scaling, fouling and biofouling. Furthermore, RO can work in synergy with other pressure-driven membrane operations; in fact, water pre-treatment through microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF) and nanofiltration (NF) can give a fundamental contribution in terms of overall process economics. NAWADES (Nanotechnological Application in WAter DESalination) [2] is a collaborative research project, co-financed by the European Commission within the 7th Framework Program (FP7). The project started in October 2012 and will finish after 4 years, in September 2016. NAWADES involves 11 partners from 6 countries: Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, Spain, Austria and Sweden. The NAWADES project aims at improving the efficiency of the RO membrane process by developing a new integrated membrane system for seawater desalination that does not suffer from organic fouling and inorganic scaling. Long-life and antifouling hollow membranes will ensure higher efficiency, reduced energy consumption (lower pressure), and less maintenance (lower cost), thank to the reduction of concentration polarization and organic fouling. These goals will be achieved through the integration between RO and pressure-driven membrane pre-treatment step (UF). Membranes will be endowed with anti-fouling and/or self-cleaning properties by studying new coating treatments and exploiting the synergy between polymers and inorganic nanomaterials. References [1] E. Drioli, E. Curcio, G. Di Profio, F. Macedonio, A. Criscuoli, Integrating membrane contactors technology and pressure-driven membrane operations for seawater desalination, energy, exergy and costs analysis, Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 84(A3) (2006) 209-220. [2] F. Macedonio, E. Drioli, A.A. Gusev, A. Bardow, R. Semiat, M. Kurihara, Efficient technologies for worldwide clean water supply, Chemical Engineering and Processing 51 (2012) 2- 17. [3] http://www.nawades.eu/ Acknowledgements The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement N°308439
2015
Istituto per la Tecnologia delle Membrane - ITM
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14243/281214
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