Ultrafiltration recovery of alginate: Membrane fouling mitigation by multivalent metal ions and properties of recycled materials

Recovery of alginate extracted from aerobic granular sludge(AGS)has given rise to a novel research direction.However,these extracted alginate solutions have a water content of nearly 100%.Alternately,ultrafiltration(UF)is generally used for concentration of polymers.Furthermore,the introduction of multivalent metal ions into alginate may provide a promising method for the development of novel nanomaterials.In this study,membrane fouling mitigation by multivalent metal ions,both individually and in combination,and properties of recycled materials were investigated for UF recovery of sodium alginate(SA).The filtration resistance showed a significantly negative correlation with the concentration of metal ions,arranged in the order of Mg^2+<Ca^2+<Fe^3+<Al^3+(filtration resistance mitigation),and the moisture content of recycled filter cake showed a marked decrease.For Ca^2+,Mg^2+,Fe^3+,and Ca^2++Fe^3+,the filtration resistances were almost the same when the total charge concentration was less than 5 mmol·L^–1.However,when the total charge concentration was greater than 5 mmol·L^–1,membrane fouling mitigation increased significantly in the presence of Ca^2+or Fe^3+and remained constant for Mg^2+with the increase of total charge concentration.The filtration resistance mitigation was arranged in the order of Fe^3+>Fe^3++Ca^2+>Ca^2+>Mg^2+.Three mechanisms were proposed in the presence of Fe^3+,such as the decrease of SA concentration,change in p H,and production of hydroxide iron colloids from hydrolysis.The properties of recycled materials(filter cake)were investigated via optical microscope observation,dynamic light scattering,Fourier transform infrared,X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS),and scanning electron microscopy.The results provide further insight into UF recoveries of alginate extracted from AGS.

Conductive and stable polyphenylene/CNT composite membrane for electrically enhanced membrane fouling mitigation

Nanocarbon-based conductive membranes, especially carbon nanotube (CNT)-based membranes, have tremendous potential for wastewater treatment and water purification because of their excellent water permeability and selectivity, as well as their electrochemically enhanced performance (e.g., improved antifouling ability). However, it remains challenging to prepare CNT membranes with high structural stability and high electrical conductivity. In this study, a highly electroconductive and structurally stable polyphenylene/CNT (PP/CNT) composite membrane was prepared by electropolymerizing biphenyl on a CNT hollow fiber membrane. The PP/CNT membrane showed 3.4 and 5.0 times higher electrical conductivity than pure CNT and poly(vinyl alcohol)/CNT (PVA/CNT) membranes, respectively. The structural stability of the membrane was superior to that of the pure CNT membrane and comparable to that of the PVA/CNT membrane. The membrane fouling was significantly alleviated under an electrical assistance of −2.0 V, with a flux loss of only 11.7% after 5 h filtration of humic acid, which is significantly lower than those of PP/CNT membranes without electro-assistance (56.8%) and commercial polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes (64.1%). Additionally, the rejection of negatively charged pollutants (humic acid and sodium alginate) was improved by the enhanced electrostatic repulsion. After four consecutive filtration-cleaning cycle tests, the flux recovery rate after backwashing reached 97.2%, which was much higher than those of electricity-free PP/CNT membranes (67.0%) and commercial PVDF membranes (61.1%). This study offers insights into the preparation of stable conductive membranes for membrane fouling control in potential water treatment applications.

Electro-assisted CNTs/ceramic flat sheet ultrafiltration membrane for enhanced antifouling and separation performance

Ultrafiltration is employed as an important process for water treatment and reuse,which is of great significance to alleviate the shortage of water resources.However,it suffers from severe membrane fouling and the trade-off between selectivity and permeability.In this work,a CNTs/ceramic flat sheet ultrafiltration membrane coupled with electro-assistance was developed for improving the antifouling and separation performance.The CNTs/ceramic flat sheet membrane was fabricated by coating cross-linked CNTs on ceramic membrane,featuring a good electroconductivity of 764.75 S/m.In the filtration of natural water,the permeate flux of the membrane with the cell voltage of-2.0 V was 1.8 times higher than that of the membrane without electro-assistance and 5.7-fold greater than that of the PVDF commercial membrane.Benefiting from the electro-assistance,the removal efficiency of the typical antibiotics was improved by 50%.Furthermore,the electro-assisted membrane filtration process showed 70%reduction in energy consumption compared with the filtration process of the commercial membrane.This work offers a feasible approach for membrane fouling mitigation and effluent quality improvement and suggests that the electro-assisted CNTs/ceramic membrane filtration process has great potential in the application of water treatment.