Membrane Processes for Water Purification and Desalination

Water is a valuable but also vulnerable resource. Recent years have seen significant water depletion due to sudden climatic changes, uncontrolled extraction of sensitive basins and repeated environmental pollution. Increased water consumption by industry, agriculture and the growing global population has continued to stress water reservoirs, compromising the health and safety of our planet. Thus, the development of new best practices and competitive technologies through global sustainability efforts to manage water sources is needed to provide safe and affordable access to clean water. Reusable water can be obtained through the removal of heavy metals and toxic organic, inorganic and biological compounds from municipal and agro-industrial wastewater. Desalination processes can also provide freshwater and drinking water while protecting biodiversity. The consistency and security of water access can be realized through sophisticated and intelligent separation processes, including informed choices about functional materials together with the implementation of cutting-edge and green technologies. Selective molecular diffusion, adsorption, formation of complexes, in situ degradation, catalytic conversion and destruction of pathogens and biological contaminants are practical routes for purifying water streams. Membrane operations, from nanofiltration to reverse osmosis, electrodialysis, catalytic bioreactors and membrane contactors, among other technologies, represent an innovative one-pot approach to simultaneously treating and separating freshwater able to competitively maintain eco-sustainability and cost-effective implementation of high-standard strategic outcomes.This Special Issue aims to bring together research on the development of new intelligent materials and membranes for the development of membrane processes dedicated to water purification and desalination. Topics of interest include theoretical and experimental advances in the synthesis and characterization of membranes, exploration of separation mechanisms and accomplishment of productivity-efficiency trade-offs for well-established and breakthrough membrane processes.