Fabrication of cost effective iron ore slime ceramic membrane for the recovery of organic solvent used in coke production

Improvement of coking properties of sub-bituminous coal （A） and bituminous coal （B） was done using blended organic solvents, namely, n-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone （NMP） and ethylenediamine （EDA）. Various solvent blends were employed for the coal extraction under the total reflux condition. A low-cost ceramic membrane was fabricated using industrial waste iron ore slime of M/s TATA steel R＆D, Jamshedpur （India） to separate out the dissolved coking fraction from the solvent-coal mixture. Membrane separations were carried out in a batch cell, and around 75 % recovered NMP was reused. The fractionated coal properties were determined using proximate and ultimate analyses. In the case of bituminous coal, the ash and sulfur contents were decreased by 99.3 % and 79.2 %, respectively, whereas, the carbon content was increased by 23.9 % in the separated coal fraction. Three different cleaning agents, namely deionized water, sodium dodecyl sulphate and NMP were used to regain the original membrane permeability for the reusing.

Pilot-plant Study of Anoxic-aerobic Membrane Bioreactor （AO-MBR） on the Changes of Membrane Flux under Constant Pressure

Under a constant pressure, a pilot-plant test was conducted through the use of anoxic-aerobic membrane bioreactor （AO-MBR）, and this test operated steadily for 251 days. During the experiment, there were a total of four membrane cleaning processes, for the 90th day, the 150th day, the 210th day and the 240th day, respectively （The cleaning cycle was 90 days, 60 days, 60 days and 30 days, respectively）. From the initial 33.26 L/m^2.b dropped to 20.03 L/m^2.h after the fourth membrane cleaning, membrane flux reduced to 60.22% of the initial flux. During the 180 thd-210 thd of the experiment, the powdered activated carbon （PAC）, the segment size of which is 80-100, was put into anoxic reactor. Membrane flux decreased from 16.02 L/m^2·h to 15.29 L/m^2·h, and then rose to 15.65L/m^2·h. The dosing of PAC had a significant effect on the maintenance of a high membrane flux and extending running time. Before several membrane cleanings, a wire of membrane was intercepted from membrane module. It was found that the membrane surface sediments seemed to the inorganic colloid formed by Fe^2＋, Ca^2＋ and biofilm formed by some micro-organisms after the membrane surface pollutants were analyzed preliminarily with scanning electron microscopy （SEM）.

Towards a better hydraulic cleaning strategy for ultrafiltration membrane fouling by humic acid: Effect of backwash water composition

As a routine measurement to alleviate membrane fouling, hydraulic cleaning is of great significance for the steady operation of ultrafiltration（UF） systems in water treatment processes. In this work, a comparative study was performed to investigate the effects of the composition of backwash water on the hydraulic cleaning performance of UF membranes fouled by humic acid（HA）. Various types of backwash water, including UF permeate, Milli-Q water, Na Cl solution, CaCl_2 solution and HA solution, were compared in terms of hydraulically irreversible fouling index, total surface tension and residual HA. The results indicated that Milli-Q water backwash was superior to UF permeate backwash in cleaning HA-fouled membranes, and the backwash water containing Na＋or HA outperformed Milli-Q water in alleviating HA fouling. On the contrary, the presence of Ca^（2＋） in backwash water significantly decreased the backwash efficiency. Moreover, Ca^（2＋） played an important role in foulant removal, and the residual HA content closely related to the residual Ca^（2＋） content.Mechanism analysis suggested that the backwash process may involve fouling layer swelling, ion exchange, electric double layer release and competitive complexation. Ion exchange and competitive complexation played significant roles in the efficient hydraulic cleaning associated with Na＋and HA, respectively.

Gas separation using porous cement membrane

Gas separation is a key issue in various industrial fields. Hydrogen has the potential for application in clean fuel technologies. Therefore, the separation and purification of hydrogen is an important research subject. CO2 capture and storage have important roles in ＂green chemistry＂. As an effective clean technology, gas separation using inorganic membranes has attracted much attention in the last several decades. Membrane processes have many applications in the field of gas separation. Cement is one type of inorganic material, with the advantages of a lower cost and a longer lifespan. An experimental setup has been created and improved to measure twenty different cement membranes. The purpose of this work was to investigate the influence of gas molecule properties on the material transport and to explore the influence of operating conditions and membrane composition on separation efficiency. The influences of the above parameters are determined, the best conditions and membrane type are found, it is shown that cementitious material has the ability to separate gas mixtures, and the gas transport mechanism is studied.