Abstract
The declining water flux over time due to fouling represents the main onstream issue of the existent membranes in wastewater treatment. Thus, preventing and mitigating membrane fouling is considered the key challenge to improving performance and extending the use of membranes in water treatment and recovery applications. Novel membranes with improved properties will lead to reduced energy consumption, reduced cleaning and consumption of chemicals, as well as the less frequent replacement of membranes.
In the the current investigation we developed methods for antfiouling and anti-scaling functionalizing of commercial ultrafiltration (UF) and microfiltration (MF) membranes. The manufacturing technology aims to obtain membranes with improved water flux, stability, antifouling properties exceeding the performance of commercial membranes. The membranes are aimed to treat the intake water in fish farms and wastewater in general. We aim for easily scalable methods for large production, such as direct surface modification inside existent commercial membrane modules.
The fabrication process consists of UV grafting of polymer chains from acrylate type of monomers (acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, hydroxyethyl methacrylate) onto the surface of microfiltration membranes (PVDF and PES). The succesfull membrane hydrophilization was characterized by FTIR, wettability (contact angle measurements) and water permeability. The membranes shows a decrease in the contact angle from 85 to 70 for PVDF and from 61 to 44 for PES indicating hydrophilization of the membrane which was confirmed by FTIR as well. The clean water flux was measured in cross-flow configuration at room temeperature, various water flow rates and two applied pressures. The water flux was reduced due to the surface grafting but the membrane bulk prorosity was little affected by grafting. We investigated various fabrication strategies to prevent and reduce the clogging of the membranes pores during grafting. The porosity of the membrane prior an post grafting was investigated using mercury intrusion porsimetry.
Acknowledgements: We would like to acknowledge funding from the MANUNET/ ERA-NET program MNET20/ENER3733.
In the the current investigation we developed methods for antfiouling and anti-scaling functionalizing of commercial ultrafiltration (UF) and microfiltration (MF) membranes. The manufacturing technology aims to obtain membranes with improved water flux, stability, antifouling properties exceeding the performance of commercial membranes. The membranes are aimed to treat the intake water in fish farms and wastewater in general. We aim for easily scalable methods for large production, such as direct surface modification inside existent commercial membrane modules.
The fabrication process consists of UV grafting of polymer chains from acrylate type of monomers (acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, hydroxyethyl methacrylate) onto the surface of microfiltration membranes (PVDF and PES). The succesfull membrane hydrophilization was characterized by FTIR, wettability (contact angle measurements) and water permeability. The membranes shows a decrease in the contact angle from 85 to 70 for PVDF and from 61 to 44 for PES indicating hydrophilization of the membrane which was confirmed by FTIR as well. The clean water flux was measured in cross-flow configuration at room temeperature, various water flow rates and two applied pressures. The water flux was reduced due to the surface grafting but the membrane bulk prorosity was little affected by grafting. We investigated various fabrication strategies to prevent and reduce the clogging of the membranes pores during grafting. The porosity of the membrane prior an post grafting was investigated using mercury intrusion porsimetry.
Acknowledgements: We would like to acknowledge funding from the MANUNET/ ERA-NET program MNET20/ENER3733.