Membrane-based air dehumidification:A comparative review on membrane contactors,separative membranes and adsorptive membranes

This review compares the different types of membrane processes for air dehumidification.Three main categories of membrane-based dehumidification are identified–membrane contactors using porous membranes with concentrated liquid desiccants,separative membranes using dense membrane morphology with a pressure gradient to drive the separation of moisture from air,and adsorptive membranes using nanofibrous membranes which adsorb and capture moisture to realise dehumidification.Drawing upon the importance of dehumidification and humidity control for urban sustainability and energy efficacy,this review critically analyses and recognizes the three unique categories of membrane-based air dehumidification technologies.Essentially,the discussion is broken into three sections-one for each category-discriminating in terms of the driving force,membrane structure and properties,and its performance indicators.Readers will notice that despite having the same objective to dehumidify air,the polymers used amongst each category differs to suit the operating requirements and optimize dehumidification performance.At the end of each section,a performance table or summary of dehumidifying membranes in its class is provided.The final section concludes with a comparative review of the three categories on membrane-based air dehumidification technologies and draw inspiration from parallel research to rationalise the potential and innovative use of promising materials in membrane fabrication for air dehumidification.

添加剂和凝结剂温度对用无溶剂致相位分离法生产高性能PVDF/聚醚F127混合中空光纤膜的影响(英文)

Poly(vinylidene fluoride)(PVDF) has become one of the most popular materials for membrane prepara-tion via nonsolvent induced phase separation(NIPS) process.In this study,an amphiphilic block copolymer,Plu-ronic F127,has been used as both a pore-former and a surface-modifier in the fabrication of PVDF hollow fiber membranes to enhance the membrane permeability and hydrophilicity.The effects of 2nd additive and coagulant temperature on the formation of PVDF/Pluronic F127 membranes have also been investigated.The as-spun hollow fibers were characterized in terms of cross-sectional morphology,pure water permeation(PWP),relative molecular mass cut-off(MWCO),membrane chemistry,and hydrophilicity.It was observed that the addition of Pluronic F127 significantly increased the PWP of as-spun fibers,while the membrane contact angle was reduced.However,the size of macrovoids in the membranes was undesirably large.The addition of a 2nd additive,including lithium chlo-ride(LiCl) and water,or an increase in coagulant temperature was found to effectively suppress the macrovoid for-mation in the Pluronic-containing membranes.In addition,the use of LiCl as a 2nd additive also further enhanced the PWP and hydrophilicity of the membranes,while the surface pore size became smaller.PVDF hollow fiber with a PWP as high as 2530 L?m?2?h?1?MPa?1,a MWCO of 53000 and a contact angle of 71° was successfully fabricated with 3%(by mass) of Pluronic F127 and 3%(by mass) of LiCl at a coagulant temperature of 25 °C,which shows better performance as compared with most of PVDF hollow fiber membranes made by NIPS method.

Bioregeneration of spent activated carbon:Review of key factors and recent mathematical models of kinetics

The disposal of spent activated carbon(AC) will inevitably create secondary pollution. In overcoming this problem, the spent AC can be regenerated by means of biological approach. Bioregeneration is the phenomenon in which through the action of microorganisms, the adsorbed pollutants on the surface of the AC will be biodegraded and this enables further adsorption of pollutants to occur with time elapse. This review provides the challenges and perspectives for effective bioregeneration to occur in biological activated carbon(BAC)column. Owing to very few reported works on the bioregeneration rate in BAC column, emphasis is put forward on the recently developed models of bioregeneration kinetic in batch system. All in all, providing potential solutions in increasing the lifespan of AC and the enhancement of bioregeneration rate will definitely overcome the bottlenecks in spent AC bioregeneration.

Characterization of the archaeal community fouling a membrane bioreactor

Biofilm formation, one of the primary causes of biofouling, results in reduced membrane flux or increased transmembrane pressure and thus represents a major impediment to the wider implementation of membrane bioreactor （MBR） technologies for water purification. Most studies have focused on the role of bacteria in membrane fouling as they are the most dominant and best studied organisms present in the MBR. In contrast, there is limited information on the role of the archaeal community in biofilm formation in MBRs. This study investigated the composition of the archaeal community during the process of biofouling in an MBR. The archaeal community was observed to have lower richness and diversity in the biofilm than the sludge during the establishment ofbiofilms at low transmembrane pressure （TMP）. Clustering of the communities based on the Bray-Curtis similarity matrix indicated that a subset of the sludge archaeal community formed the initial biofilms. The archaeal community in the biofilm was mainly composed of Thermoprotei, Thermoplasmata, Thermococci, Methanopyri, Methanomicrobia and Halobacteria. Among them, the Thermoprotei and Thermoplasmata were present at higher relative proportions in the biofilms than they were in the sludge. Additionally, the Thermoprotei, Thermoplasmata and Thermococci were the dominant organisms detected in the initial biofilms at low TMP, while as the TMP increased, the Methanopyri, Methanomicrobia, Aciduliprofundum and Halobacteria were present at higher abundances in the biofilms at high TMP.

Design of nanofibre interlayer supported forward osmosis composite membranes and its evaluation in fouling study with cleaning

Nanofibre-supported forward osmosis(FO)membranes have gained popularity owing to their low structural parameters and high water flux.However,the nanofibrous membranes are less stable in long-term use,and their fouling behaviours with foulants in both feed solution(FS)and draw solution(DS)is less studied.This study developed a nanofibrous thin-film composite(TFC)FO membrane by designing a tiered dual-layer nanofibrous substrate to enhance membrane stability during long-term usage and cleaning.Various characterisation methods were used to study the effect of the electrospun nanofibre interlayer and drying time,which is the interval after removing the M-phenylenediamine(MPD)solution and before reacting with trimesoyl chloride(TMC)solution,on the intrinsic separation FO performance.The separation performance of the dual-layer nanofibrous FO membranes was examined using model foulants(sodium alginate and bovine serum albumin)in both the FS and DS.The dual-layer nanofibrous substrate was superior to the single-layer nanofibrous substrate and showed a flux of 30.2 L/m^(2)/h(LMH)when using 1.5 mol/L NaCl against deionised(DI)water in the active layer facing draw solution(AL-DS)mode.In the fouling test,the water flux was effectively improved without sacrificing the water/solute selectivity under the condition that foulants existed in both the FS and DS.In addition,the dual-layer nanofibrous TFC FO membrane was more robust during the fouling test and cleaning.