Novel low-fouling membranes from lab to pilot application in textile wastewater treatment

Francesco Galiano; Ines Friha; Shamim Ahmed Deowan; Jan Hoinkis; Ye Xiaoyun; Daniel Johnson; Raffaella Mancuso; Nidal Hilal; Bartolo Gabriele; Sami Sayadi; Alberto Figoli

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2018.01.009

Novel low-fouling membranes from lab to pilot application in textile wastewater treatment

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2018 Apr 1:515:208-220. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2018.01.009. Epub 2018 Jan 5.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Institute on Membrane Technology, ITM-CNR, Via P. Bucci, Cubo 17/C, I-87030 Rende, Italy.
² Center of Biotechnologie of Sfax, Route Sidi Mansour Km6, P.O. Box 1177, 3018 Sfax, Tunisia.
³ Department of Robotics and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
⁴ Institute of Applied Research (IAF), Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, Moltkestr. 30, 76133 Karlsruhe, Germany. Electronic address: jan.hoinkis@hs-karlsruhe.de.
⁵ Institute of Applied Research (IAF), Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, Moltkestr. 30, 76133 Karlsruhe, Germany.
⁶ Center for Water Advanced Technologies and Environmental Research (CWATER), College of Engineering, Swansea University, Swansea SA28PP, United Kingdom; Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI), Doha, Qatar.
⁷ Department of Chemistry and Chemical Technologies, University of Calabria, Via P. Bucci cubo 12/C, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende, CS, Italy.
⁸ Institute on Membrane Technology, ITM-CNR, Via P. Bucci, Cubo 17/C, I-87030 Rende, Italy. Electronic address: a.figoli@itm.cnr.it.

PMID: 29335187
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2018.01.009

Abstract

A novel antifouling coating based on the polymerization of a polymerisable bicontinuous microemulsion (PBM) was developed and applied for commercially available membranes for textile wastewater treatment. PBM coating was produced by polymerizing, on a polyethersulfone (PES) membrane, a bicontinuous microemulsion, realized by finely tuning its properties in terms of chemical composition and polymerization temperature. In particular, the PBM was prepared by using, as the surfactant component, inexpensive and commercially available dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB). The coating exhibited a more hydrophilic and a smoother surface in comparison to uncoated PES surface, making the produced PBM membranes more resistant and less prone to be affected by fouling. The anti-fouling potential of PBM membranes was assessed by using humic acid (HA) as a model foulant, evaluating the water permeability decrease as an indicator of the fouling propensity of the membranes. PBM membrane performances in terms of dye rejection, when applied for model textile wastewater treatment, were also evaluated and compared to PES commercial ones. The PBM membranes were finally successfully scaled-up (total membrane area 0.33 m²) and applied in a pilot membrane bioreactor (MBR) unit for the treatment of real textile wastewater.

Keywords: Lab to pilot (LTP); Low fouling membranes; Membrane bioreactor (MBR); Polymerisable bicontinuous microemulsion (PBM); Textile wastewater; Wastewater treatment.