One of the greatest challenges to the sustainability of modern society is an inadequate supply of clean water. Due to its energy-saving and cost-effective features, membrane technology has become an indispensable platform technology for water purification, including seawater and brackish water desalination as well as municipal or industrial wastewater treatment. However, membrane fouling, which arises from the nonspecific interaction between membrane surface and foulants, significantly impedes the efficient application of membrane technology. Preparing antifouling membranes is a fundamental strategy to deal with pervasive fouling problems from a variety of foulants. In recent years, major advancements have been made in membrane preparation techniques and in elucidating the antifouling mechanisms of membrane processes, including ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, reverse osmosis and forward osmosis. This review will first introduce the major foulants and the principal mechanisms of membrane fouling, and then highlight the development, current status and future prospects of antifouling membranes, including antifouling strategies, preparation techniques and practical applications. In particular, the strategies and mechanisms for antifouling membranes, including passive fouling resistance and fouling release, active off-surface and on-surface strategies, will be proposed and discussed extensively.

Antifouling membranes for sustainable water purification: strategies and mechanisms

A review of reverse osmosis membrane fouling and control strategies

In the face of water shortages, the world seeks to explore all available options in reducing the over exploitation of limited freshwater resources. One of the surest available water resources is wastewater. As the population grows, industrial, agricultural, and domestic activities increase accordingly in order to cater for the voluminous needs of man. These activities produce large volumes of wastewater from which water can be reclaimed to serve many purposes. Over the years, conventional wastewater treatment processes have succeeded to some extent in treating effluents for discharge purposes. However, improvements in wastewater treatment processes are necessary in order to make treated wastewater re-usable for industrial, agricultural, and domestic purposes. Membrane technology has emerged as a favorite choice for reclaiming water from different wastewater streams for re-use. This review looks at the trending membrane technologies in wastewater treatment, their advantages and disadvantages. It also discusses membrane fouling, membrane cleaning, and membrane modules. Finally, recommendations for future research pertaining to the application of membrane technology in wastewater treatment are made.

Membrane Technologies in Wastewater Treatment: A Review.

Graphene oxide-assisted membranes: Fabrication and potential applications in desalination and water purification

Fouling of membranes by microorganisms is a major limiting factor in membrane separation processes. Novel strategies are therefore required to decrease the extent of bacterial growth on membranes. In this study, we confer strong antimicrobial properties to thin-film composite polyamide membranes by a simple graphene oxide surface functionalization. Using amide coupling between carboxyl groups of graphene oxide and carboxyl groups of the polyamide active layer, graphene oxide is irreversibly bound to the membrane. Surface binding of graphene oxide is demonstrated by scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Direct contact of bacteria with functionalized graphene oxide on the membrane surface results in 65% bacterial inactivation after 1 h of contact time. This bactericidal effect is imparted to the membrane without any detrimental effect to the intrinsic membrane transport properties. Our results suggest that functionalization of thin-film composite membranes with graphene oxide nanosheets is a ...

M.C. Boyce

Papers

Biofouling in reverse osmosis membranes for seawater desalination: Phenomena and prevention