Novel antifouling membranes obtained by bicontinuous microemulsion polymerisation for wastewater treatment (Abstract/Comunicazione in atti di convegno)

Type
Label
  • Novel antifouling membranes obtained by bicontinuous microemulsion polymerisation for wastewater treatment (Abstract/Comunicazione in atti di convegno) (literal)
Anno
  • 2014-01-01T00:00:00+01:00 (literal)
Alternative label
  • F. Galiano, A. Figoli, S.A. Deowan, N. Hilal , D. Johnson, G. De Luca, B. Gabriele, J. Hoinkis, E. Drioli (2014)
    Novel antifouling membranes obtained by bicontinuous microemulsion polymerisation for wastewater treatment
    in International Conference on Membrane- ICOM 2014, Suzhou (Cina), 20-25/07/2014
    (literal)
Http://www.cnr.it/ontology/cnr/pubblicazioni.owl#autori
  • F. Galiano, A. Figoli, S.A. Deowan, N. Hilal , D. Johnson, G. De Luca, B. Gabriele, J. Hoinkis, E. Drioli (literal)
Pagina inizio
  • 347 (literal)
Pagina fine
  • 348 (literal)
Note
  • Comunicazione (literal)
Http://www.cnr.it/ontology/cnr/pubblicazioni.owl#affiliazioni
  • Institute on Membrane Technology, ITM-CNR, University of Calabria, Cosenza, Italy Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, Karlsruhe, Germany Centre for Water Advanced Technologies and Environmental Research,CWATER, College of Engineering, Swansea University, UK Department of Chemistry, University of Calabria, Cosenza, Italy (literal)
Titolo
  • Novel antifouling membranes obtained by bicontinuous microemulsion polymerisation for wastewater treatment (literal)
Abstract
  • Climate changes, population growth and urbanization are some of the causes of water shortage in many countries of the world. Water is essential to the life of all living organisms and its preservation and responsible use are some of the challenges that humanity will face in the near future. In particular, the possibility of treating and re-using municipal and industrial wastewaters can represent an important solution to water scarcity. Technological breakthroughs have led to the development of a number of technologies that can be efficiently applied in wastewater treatment. Among them, membrane applications are receiving an increasing attention thanks to their versatility, low environmental impact, easy scale-up and high product quality. Aim of this work was to produce polymeric membranes obtained through the polymerisation of a polymerisable bicontinuous microemulsion (PBM). Bicontinuous microemulsions consist of an interconnected network of oil and water channels stabilised by a surfactant. Oil channels can be polymerised, forming the membrane matrix, while water channels remain unaffected, forming the pores. In the present work, for the first time, PBM membranes were applied, by polymerisation, as coating material for commercial flat polyethersulfone (PES) membranes [1,2]. Microemulsion was prepared by using as emulsifier the novel synthesized cationic surfactant acryloyloxyundecyltriethyl ammonium bromide (AUTEAB) and the properties of obtained membranes were, then, studied by using different characterization techniques. The produced membranes were, finally, tested in membrane bioreactor technology (MBR) for model dyes textile wastewater treatment. SEM and AFM analysis revealed a smooth surface in case of PBM membranes in comparison to uncoated PES membranes. This peculiarity, together with a lower contact angle value, was considered as an important aspect contributing to the antifouling properties showed by the novel PBM membranes. Antifouling activity of PBM membranes was also proved by applying the model foulant humic acid (HA) used for filtration tests. After 24h of filtration, with a subsequent backflushing, PES uncoated membranes showed a clear tendency to be affected by fouling (observed by the deposition of a dark layer on membrane surface and from a drastic decrease in permeability). On the contrary, coated PBM membranes were less prone to fouling and presented a higher degree of water permeability regain after backflushing. Furthermore, the intrinsic antimicrobial activity of the cationic lab-made surfactant AUTEAB was of great interest in preventing the biofouling phenomenon which can occur during many membrane operations such as MBR process where a biological sludge is directly in contact with membrane surface. For all these aspects, PBM membranes were considered as ideal candidates to be used in MBR technology. A lab scale module prototype was developed and successfully tested for model dyes textile wastewater treatment. From MBR results, it was demonstrated how the lifecycle of PBM membranes was significantly enhanced in comparison to uncoated PES membranes, a constant permeability in time and a good rejection towards organic compounds were obtained. Acknowledgement The work was funded by BioNexGen (grant agreement no. CP-FP-246039-2) EU-FP7/project References 1. A. Figoli, J. Hoinkis, B. Gabriele, G. De Luca, F. Galiano, S. A. Deowan , \"Bicontinuous microemulsion polymerized coating for water treatment\", Patent application number ITGE2013A000096 2. A Figoli, PhD thesis \"Synthesis of nanostructured mixed matrix membrane for facilitated gas separation\" ( 2001), ISBN 90-365-1673-0 (literal)
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