Fabrication and characterization of organic pervaporation membranes to recover ethyl acetate of aqueous solutions

García Ivars, J.; Alcaina Miranda, MI.; Iborra Clar, MI.; Iborra Clar, A. (2012). Fabrication and characterization of organic pervaporation membranes to recover ethyl acetate of aqueous solutions. Procedia Engineering. 44:678-680. doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2012.08.527S6786804

Application of post-consumer recycled high-impact polystyrene in the preparation of phase-inversion membranes for low-pressure membrane processes

[EN] In this study, recycled plastic waste was successfully used in preparing low-pressure membranes by phase-inversion method. These membranes are considered as an alternative solution for economical and environmental concerns, namely: water reclamation as well as polymer recycling and reuse. Post-consumer recycled high-impact polystyrene and virgin commercial high-impact polystyrene were separately used to prepare membranes, which were thereafter compared in terms of their respective characteristics and performance. N,N-dimethylacetamide and deionised water were used as a solvent and coagulant, respectively. Membranes were characterised by microscopic observations, contact angle measurements, thermogravimetric analysis, and filtration experiments. The recycled polymeric membranes presented similar thermal properties as the membranes made from commercial high-impact polystyrene, which were used as control membranes. They also obtained similar asymmetric membrane structures, however with slightly higher porosity (from 47.54 ± 5.53% for control membranes to 52.31 ± 4.33% for recycled polymeric membranes). The presence of additives in the recycled polymeric structure was confirmed by EDX results. Such additives made the membranes to become more hydrophilic, reducing the water contact angle value from 81.78 ± 3.42° obtained for control membranes to 79.19 ± 4.15°. Moreover, irreversible fouling was satisfactorily minimised and humic acid rejection was very slightly enhanced (from 95.5 ± 0.2 to 96 ± 0.1%). This indicates that the more hydrophilic the membrane is, the better antifouling properties it possesses. Thus, the results of the post-consumer recycled high-impact polystyrene suggest that they can provide a sustainable and environmental alternative when implemented in low-pressure membrane processes.García-Ivars, J.; Wang-Xu, X.; Iborra Clar, MI. (2017). Application of post-consumer recycled high-impact polystyrene in the preparation of phase-inversion membranes for low-pressure membrane processes. Separation and Purification Technology. 175:340-351. doi:10.1016/j.seppur.2016.11.061S34035117

Activated-Carbon-Doped Non-Solvent-Induced Phase-Inversion Membranes : A Comprehensive Study on Synthesis, Characterisation, and Performance Evaluation

Acknowledgments: This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) licence to any Author-Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Comparison between hydrophilic and hydrophobic metal nanoparticles on the phase separation phenomena during formation of asymmetric polyethersulphone membranes

Inorganic nanoparticles have been applied as additive in membrane synthesis for improving different properties from the base polymer such as hydrophilicity, fouling resistance or permselectivity. To investigate the changes caused by the presence of the inorganic nanoparticles in the formation of the membrane structure, two different metallic compounds with opposite hydrophilicity were used as additives: hydrophilic zinc oxide (ZnO) and hydrophobic tungsten disulphide (WS2). For this purpose, the effect of these metal nanoparticles at ultra-low concentrations (0.05 and 0.25 wt% metal nanoparticles/polymer ratio) in the preparation of flat-sheet membranes based on polyethersulphone (PES) by immersion-precipitation method was investigated. N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) was used as solvent. The influence of both metal nanoparticles on the characteristics and permselective properties of PES membranes was studied with microscopic observations, contact angle measurements, and filtration experiments. Although the incorporation of metal nanoparticles could turn the system into thermodynamically unstable, the demixing process during formation of membranes was slightly delayed, suppressing the macrovoid formation (remarkably using WS2). Regardless the nature of the metal nanoparticles, results showed an overall improvement in membrane hydrophilicity and permselectivity by adding metal nanoparticles compared to the control PES membrane, demonstrating that the behaviour of both metal nanoparticles at ultra-low concentrations was very similar.García Ivars, J.; Iborra Clar, MI.; Alcaina Miranda, MI.; Van Der Bruggen, B. (2015). Comparison between hydrophilic and hydrophobic metal nanoparticles on the phase separation phenomena during formation of asymmetric polyethersulphone membranes. Journal of Membrane Science. 493:709-722. doi:10.1016/j.memsci.2015.07.009S70972249

Fabrication and performance of low-fouling UF membranes for 2 the treatment of Isolated Soy Protein solutions

[EN] Consumers are becoming more conscious about the need to include functional and nutritional foods in their diet. This has increased the demand for food extracts rich in proteins and peptides with physiological effects that are used within the food and pharmaceutical industries. Among these protein extracts, soy protein and its derivatives are highlighted. Isolated soy protein (ISP) presents a protein content of at least 90%. Wastewaters generated during the production process contain small proteins (8-50 kDa), and it would be desirable to find a recovery treatment for these compounds. Ultrafiltration membranes (UF) are used for the fractionation and concentration of protein solutions. By the appropriate selection of the membrane pore size, larger soy proteins are retained and concentrated while carbohydrates and minerals are mostly recovered in the permeate. The accumulation and concentration of macromolecules in the proximity of the membrane surface generates one of the most important limitations inherent to the membrane technologies. In this work, three UF membranes based on polyethersulfone (PES) were fabricated. In two of them, polyethylene glycol (PEG) was added in their formulation to be used as a fouling prevention. The membrane fouling was evaluated by the study of flux decline models based on Hermia's mechanisms.The Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (Spain), through the project 2623 (PAID-05-10), funded this research.Garcia-Castello, EM.; Rodríguez López, AD.; Barredo Damas, S.; Iborra Clar, A.; Pascual-Garrido, J.; Iborra-Clar, MI. (2021). Fabrication and performance of low-fouling UF membranes for 2 the treatment of Isolated Soy Protein solutions. Sustainability. 13(24):1-16. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132413682S116132

Removal of pharmaceutically active compounds using low-pressure membrane processes

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Desalination and water treatment on 2017, available online: http://doi.org/10.5004/dwt.2017.0449[EN] The increasing demand on water resources throughout the world has motivated researchers to seek new ways to obtain quality water increasing their interest in water reclamation. However, the presence of harmful organic chemicals such as pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) is a serious environmental concern. The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of the pH on the rejection of seven target PhACs (acetaminophen, caffeine, erythromycin, ibuprofen, naproxen, sulfamethoxazole, and trimethoprim) by different low-pressure membranes within the fine ultrafiltration (UF) and loose nanofiltration (NF) range. For this purpose, three ceramic membranes and a polyamide membrane were used for UF and NF experiments, respectively. Experimental results indicated that PhACs with negative charge were effectively rejected at basic conditions (< 75% for UF, < 90% for NF), improving both their hydrophilicity and solubility with increasing pH. Furthermore, high soluble PhACs with high pKa values showed low rejection values (similar to 15% for UF, similar to 30% for NF) and a pH-independent behaviour during low-pressure filtration experiments. Therefore, the use of low-pressure membranes could be considered as an appropriate and sustainable supplemental technique to remove PhACs in a wastewater treatment plant.The authors of this work wish to gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the project CTM2013-42342-P.García-Ivars, J.; Iborra Clar, MI.; Massella, M.; Carbonell Alcaina, C.; Alcaina-Miranda, MI. (2017). Removal of pharmaceutically active compounds using low-pressure membrane processes. Desalination and Water Treatment. 69:252-260. https://doi.org/10.5004/dwt.2017.0449S2522606

Pharmaceutical compounds removal by adsorption with commercial and reused carbon coming from a drinking water treatment plant

[EN] The concern for the presence of pharmaceutical compounds in purified wastewater has grown in recent years. In this context, efficient and economically viable processes are required for their removal. In this study, adsorption was conducted to assess the removal of ibuprofen, caffeine, diazepam and acetaminophen, both as separated processes as in combination with a biological process in sequencing batch reactors. Removal efficiencies of these pharmaceutical active compounds were evaluated using two commercial activated carbons in granular and powder form and a discarded (after its use) activated carbon from a drinking water treatment plant. Concerning the biological treatment tests, simulated municipal wastewater was doped with 3¿mg/L of each pharmaceutical active compounds. Results showed that caffeine, acetaminophen and ibuprofen achieved excellent removal percentages, even without powder activated carbon addition (more than 94%); By contrast, whereas diazepam removal was low (lower than 50%); however, it was improved up to 68% with the powder activated carbon addition to the sequencing batch reactors. Regarding adsorption tests as separated process, ibuprofen was the pharmaceutical active compounds with the lowest removal percentage (around 50% for the granular activated carbon) and diazepam (around 80% for the granular activated carbon) was the compound with the maximum removal efficiency for the tested concentrations (between 0.5 and 3¿mg/L). Finally, results were very promising for the reused activated carbon since the removal efficiency of the pharmaceutical active compounds was higher than 90% (except for ibuprofen) when 0.5¿g/L of reused activated carbon was applied in powder form to solutions of 3¿mg/L of each pharmaceutical active compounds. In this way, a low cost activated carbon could be applied in wastewater treatment plants for pharmaceutical active compounds removal.This work has been carried out in the frame of the project IMIDTA/2017/73 granted to the company GECIVAL, S.L. by Instituto Valenciano de Competitividad Empresarial (IVACE) within the program for research and development projects for SMEs. This project has been co-financed (50%) by the operational program FEDER of Comunitat Valenciana 2014 2020.Lujan Facundo, MJ.; Iborra-Clar, MI.; Mendoza Roca, JA.; Alcaina-Miranda, MI. (2019). Pharmaceutical compounds removal by adsorption with commercial and reused carbon coming from a drinking water treatment plant. Journal of Cleaner Production. 238:1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.117866S1923

Autoevaluación y co-evaluación continua del trabajo individual y grupal en una asignatura experimental

[EN] This work is based on the evaluation of fundamental competence "teamwork" in order to get an assessment that reflects the work of each student within their group in an experimental subject. For this, the student participates in both selfassessment and co-assessment. Each evaluation process includes qualitative assessment of the group performance and quantitative assessment of academic work according to their degree of involvement. The performance evaluation group is done through anonymous surveys based on the models of A. García-Carbonell and F. Watts. In them, each student carries out an evaluation of each of its members and himself in two different moments of the semester: initial and final. In the quantitative assessment, students distribute the mark of the academic work according to the evaluation criteria of P. Morales-Vallejo. Simultaneously teachers make an quantitative assessment of the academic work and the effectiveness of teamwork by means an assessment rubric. The aim of these assessment methodologies is to identify students that do not contribute to the effectiveness of the group. So the marks for the academic works will depend on the degree of participation of each student to get a fairer individual assessment in an entirely experimental subject, where the teamwork is essential.[ES] Este trabajo se basa en la evaluación de la competencia básica “trabajo en grupo” con el fin de obtener una evaluación que refleje el trabajo de cada alumno dentro de su grupo en una asignatura experimental. Para ello, el alumno participa en un proceso de evaluación tanto individual (autoevaluación) como del resto de compañeros del grupo (co-evaluación). Cada evaluación contempla la valoración cualitativa del funcionamiento de los miembros del grupo y la valoración cuantitativa del trabajo académico realizado en función del grado de participación. La evaluación del funcionamiento del grupo se realiza a través de encuestas anónimas basándose en los modelos de A. García-Carbonell y F. Watts. En ellas, cada alumno realiza una evaluación de cada uno de sus miembros y de él mismo en dos momentos diferentes del semestre: inicial y final. En la valoración cuantitativa, los alumnos distribuyen la nota obtenida en el trabajo académico según los criterios de P. Morales-Vallejo. Paralelamente los profesores realizan la valoración de los trabajos académicos realizados y la efectividad del trabajo en grupo a través de ‘rúbricas de evaluación’. Con estas metodologías de evaluación se pretende detectar a los alumnos que no contribuyen a la efectividad del grupo, de forma que la nota de los trabajos académicos dependa del grado de participación de cada alumno. En definitiva, obtener una evaluación individual más justa en una asignatura completamente experimental, donde el trabajo en grupo es clave.Bes Piá, MA.; Cuartas Uribe, BE.; Iborra Clar, A.; Iborra Clar, MI.; Garcia-Castello, EM. (2015). Autoevaluación y co-evaluación continua del trabajo individual y grupal en una asignatura experimental. En In-Red 2015 - CONGRESO NACIONAL DE INNOVACIÓN EDUCATIVA Y DE DOCENCIA EN RED. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/INRED2015.2015.1604OC

Rejection of trace pharmaceutically active compounds present in municipal wastewaters using ceramic fine ultrafiltration membranes: Effect of feed solution pH and fouling phenomena

[EN] This study investigates the influence of feed solution pH and fouling on the rejection of ten selected pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) with different physicochemical characteristics (molecular weight, water solubility, log Kow, pKa, dipole moment, etc.) by three multichannel ceramic ultrafiltration membranes, ranging from 1 to 8 kDa, in order to improve their removal from water. For this purpose, the comparison between filtration of PhACs in deionised water (Feed I) and in real wastewater effluent (Feed II) was performed, demonstrating that the variation of pH and the formation of a foulant layer altered the separation mechanism and hence the rejection values of each PhAC varied. Higher rejections of most of the PhACs were higher at slightly alkaline pH, especially for anionic compounds in the filtration with real wastewater. In these conditions, flux decline was more severe. The formed fouling layer onto the hydrophilic membrane surface acted as a secondary barrier for separation with different properties like hydrophobicity and charge. Electrostatic interactions were the main separation mechanism in the filtration of PhACs in deionised water, while the hydrophobic/hydrophilic interactions played a crucial role in the filtration experiments with real wastewater effluent. Thus, the reported results indicated that the rejection of pharmaceutically active compounds was strongly pH-dependent, except for hydrophilic neutral compounds (acetaminophen and caffeine), which showed a pH-independent behaviour with low rejection values. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.The authors of this work wish to gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the project CTM2013-42342-P.García-Ivars, J.; Dura-Maria, J.; Moscardo-Carreño, C.; Carbonell Alcaina, C.; Alcaina-Miranda, MI.; Iborra Clar, MI. (2017). Rejection of trace pharmaceutically active compounds present in municipal wastewaters using ceramic fine ultrafiltration membranes: Effect of feed solution pH and fouling phenomena. Separation and Purification Technology. 175:58-71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2016.11.027S587117

Alternatives for the management of pig slurry: Phosphorous recovery and biogas generation

[EN] Pig slurry is highly polluted waste stream characterized by its high nutrients content and its high organic matter concentration. In this research, two alternatives in the management of this wastewater were studied. On the one hand, removal of nutrients from piggery wastewater by struvite precipitation was evaluated. Different molar ratios Mg+2/PO4-3, pH and temperatures were tested. On the other hand, an anaerobic treatment was performed with and without previous struvite crystallization and the methane production was analyzed. Results showed that the optimal experimental conditions to achieve the highest ammonium nitrogen and phosphate removal percentages (62.01% and 66.96%, respectively) were a molar concentration ratio (Mg+2/PO4-3) of 2.8, pH of 10 and temperature of 22 degrees C. In addition, images from FE-SEM microscopy demonstrated that the struvite morphology was orthorhombic. Concerning the anaerobic digestion, the chemical oxygen demand removal efficiencies were 59.87% and 52.25% for the treatment without previous struvite precipitation and with previous struvite precipitation, respectively. Furthermore, the maximum biogas potential was found when no previous struvite precipitation was carried out, with a biogas generation around 4 mLh(-1) and a percentage of methane in the biogas between 32.37 and 59.73%.The authors wish to gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the project PROVIP.ES (RTC-2014-2239-2).Lujan Facundo, MJ.; Iborra-Clar, MI.; Mendoza Roca, JA.; Also Jesús, M. (2019). Alternatives for the management of pig slurry: Phosphorous recovery and biogas generation. Journal of Water Process Engineering. 30:1-7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwpe.2017.08.011S173