Journal article
Electroconductive and electroresponsive membranes for water treatment
Reviews in chemical engineering, v 32(5), pp 533-550
01 Oct 2016
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
In populated, water-scarce regions, seawater and wastewater are considered as potable water resources that require extensive treatment before being suitable for consumption. The separation of water from salt, organic, and inorganic matter is most commonly done through membrane separation processes. Because of permeate flux and concentration polarization, membranes are prone to fouling, resulting in a decline in membrane performance and increased energy demands. As the physical and chemical properties of commercially available membranes (polymeric and ceramic) are relatively static and insensitive to changes in the environment, there is a need for stimuli-reactive membranes with controlled, tunable surface and transport properties to decrease fouling and control membrane properties such as hydrophilicity and permselectivity. In this review, we first describe the application of electricity-conducting and electricity-responsive membranes (ERMs) for fouling mitigation. We discuss their ability to reduce organic, inorganic, and biological fouling by several mechanisms, including control over the membrane's surface morphology, electrostatic rejection, piezoelectric vibrations, electrochemical reactions, and local pH changes. Next, we examine the use of ERMs for permselectivity modification, which allows for the optimization of rejection and control over ion transport through the application of electrical potentials and the use of electrostatically charged membrane surfaces. In addition, electrochemical reactions coupled with membrane filtration are examined, including electro-oxidation and electro-Fenton reactions, demonstrating the capability of ERMs to electro-oxidize organic contaminates with high efficiency due to high surface area and reduced mass diffusion limitations. When applicable, ERM applications are compared with commercial membranes in terms of energy consumptions. We conclude with a brief discussion regarding the future directions of ERMs and provide examples of several applications such as pore size and selectivity control, electrowettability, and capacitive deionization. To provide the reader with the current state of knowledge, the review focuses on research published in the last 5 years.
Metrics
Details
- Title
- Electroconductive and electroresponsive membranes for water treatment
- Creators
- Avner Ronen - University of California, RiversideSharon L. Walker - University of California, RiversideDavid Jassby - University of California, Riverside
- Publication Details
- Reviews in chemical engineering, v 32(5), pp 533-550
- Publisher
- Walter De Gruyter
- Number of pages
- 18
- Grant note
- FI-497-2014 / Vaadia-BARD Postdoctoral Fellowship United States-Israel Binational Agricultural Research and Development Fund; US-Israel Binational Science Foundation BARD; US-Israel Binational Science Foundation
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- College of Engineering
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000385246300003
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-84989863088
- Other Identifier
- 991021229896104721
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
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InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Web of Science research areas
- Engineering, Chemical