An Overview on the Treatment and Management of the Desalination Brine Solution

Due to the increasing limitations of water resources, application of desalination plants is expanding. One of the constraints associated with desalination plant operation is the production of concentrated solution, which is known as brine and can lead to critical challenges in the environment due to its high level of salinity. In this regard, many different disposal options used recently to control and prevent the environmental issues may be caused by the brine. Evaporation ponds, surface water discharge, and deep well injection are considered as the most well-known options to properly dispose concentrated brine. However, the application of these methods is highly restricted by capital cost and their limited uses. The treatment methods vary in terms of their ability in organics removal and can be divided into three different conventional groups as biological, physicochemical, and oxidation. In recent years, more attention has been paid to membrane-based technologies due to their economic performance in recovering precious resources and providing potable water with high recovery rates. This book chapter provides some critical reviews on recent technologies including treatment operations and disposal options to manage concentrated solutions from desalination plants. Finally, electrodialysis, forward osmosis, and membrane distillation as emerging membrane processes are examined in this chapter

MEMBRANE DEVELOPMENT FOR ORGANIC SOLVENT NANOFILTRATION APPLICATION

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

A novel crosslinking technique towards the fabrication of high-flux polybenzimidazole (PBI) membranes for organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN)

10.1016/j.seppur.2018.07.026Separation and Purification Technology209182-19

Solvent resistant hollow fiber membranes comprising P84 polyimide and amine-functionalized carbon nanotubes with potential applications in pharmaceutical, food, and petrochemical industries

10.1016/j.cej.2018.03.153Chemical Engineering Journal345174-18

Cross-linked mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) consisting of aminefunctionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes and P84 polyimide for organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN) with enhanced flux

10.1016/j.memsci.2017.11.037Journal of Membrane Science548319-33

Cross-linked mixed matrix membranes consisting of carboxyl-functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes and P84 polyimide for organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN)

10.1016/j.seppur.2017.06.021Separation and Purification Technology186243-25

Preparation and characterization of novel nanoporous SBA-16-COOH embedded polysulfone ultrafiltration membrane for protein separation

Polysulfone ultrafiltration membrane was modified by novel nanoporous SBA-16-COOH during the membrane preparation via the phase inversion. The pure water flux and bovine serum albumin (BSA, as the foulant) flux were measured at 2 bar and the membranes’ antifouling behavior were analyzed. The membranes showed higher water flux after SBA-16-COOH addition up to 2 wt% and after that the flux slightly decreased which is attributed to the aggregation of SBA-16-COOH particles at the higher concentrations. SBA-16-COOH addition improved the surface hydrophilicity and led to elongated finger-like pores within the membranes cross section structure. The water flux after BSA flux was still higher than the one before BSA, thereby SBA-16-COOH addition resulted in better antifouling properties. In terms of BSA rejection, the nanocomposite SBA-16-COOH-based membranes outperform the pristine PSf membrane with rejection values up to 98.9%. The water contact angle confirmed the enhanced hydrophilicity of the membranes’ surface due to [sbnd]COOH functional groups of the nanomaterials which led to a higher permeability and an enhanced fouling resistance

Improvement in flux and antifouling properties of PVC ultrafiltration membranes by incorporation of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles

In this study, modification of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) ultrafiltration membranes with zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticle addition was taken into consideration. The ZnO at five different weights was added to the polymeric solution, and the membranes were fabricated by the phase inversion method using water as a nonsolvent and PEG 6 kDa as a pore former additive. The results showed that the pure water flux of the modified membranes increased up to 3 wt% ZnO addition, which was the optimized amount of the nanoparticle addition in this study. Also, at 3 wt% ZnO addition, flux recovery ratio reached from 69% to above 90%, indicated that the nanocomposite membranes were less susceptible to be fouled. BSA rejection of the membranes also enhanced up to 97% by 3 wt% ZnO addition. The membranes were further characterized by SEM images and remarkable changes in their morphologies were observed, and they became more porous with higher interconnectivity between the pores. Furthermore, EDAX analysis was applied to study ZnO dispersion in the membrane structure and except for 4 wt% ZnO addition which particles aggregation was noticeable, ZnO was dispersed finely in the membrane structure. In addition, the modified membranes had higher hydrophilicity and lower contact angle that was effective to obtain higher water flux

Fouling reduction of emulsion polyvinylchloride ultrafiltration membranes blended by PEG: the effect of additive concentration and coagulation bath temperature

In the present work, ultrafiltration membranes were prepared using emulsion polyvinyl chloride (EPVC) with the addition of various concentrations of polyethylene glycol (PEG) to investigate the morphological structure and separation properties. The effects of polymer concentration, coagulation bath temperature (CBT), and PEG (6\ua0kDa) concentrations—a pore former hydrophilic additive—were studied. Through the phase inversion, the membranes—which were induced by immersion precipitation in a water coagulation bath—were fabricated through dissolving EPVC in N-methyl-pyrrolidinone, a polymer solvent. Morphological features of the membranes were characterized through scanning electron microscopy, pore size and porosity, and contact angle measurements. Water and bovine serum albumin (BSA) were used in order to study the separation and permeation performance of the fabricated membranes at 3\ua0bar, which is operating pressure. The results which were obtained from contact angle test indicated an increment in the membranes hydrophilicity with an increase in PEG concentrations, and then it decreased again. Increasing the CBT led to macrovoid formation in the membrane structure and the appreciation of both membrane permeability and BSA rejection. The addition of PEG resulted in a more porous structure and a higher water flux for those membranes, which were prepared with 13\ua0wt.% EPVC; while, for those which were fabricated with 15\ua0wt.% polymer, an opposite trend was observed

Separation of vegetable oil compounds and solvent recovery using commercial organic solvent nanofiltration membranes

10.1016/j.memsci.2019.11720