Water treatment membrane techniques

Monitoring Technique for Water Treatment Membrane Processes ... 

The latter concept implies providing local life support systems for unfriendly environments. By now, Ukrainian scientists and engineers have developed a variety of processes for potable water treatment by adsorption, electrochemical oxidation, electrocoagulation, electro-coprecipitation, electrodialysis, electrofloatation, floatation, membrane techniques etc. Each family must get small units for water purification, air cleaning and removal of hazardous substances from the food as soon as possible, for it may take decades to introduce cleaner production on a national scale. Here, we should follow the example of Western business people who bring with them to Ukraine devices enabling a safe existence in this unfriendly environment. 

In membrane extraction, the treated solution and the extractant/solvent are separated from each other by means of a solid or liquid membrane. The technique is applied primarily in three areas wastewater treatment (e.g., removal of pollutants or recovery of trace components), biotechnology (e.g., removal of products from fermentation broths or separation of enantiomers), and analytical chemistry (e.g., online monitoring of pollutant concentrations in wastewater). Figure 18a shows schematically an industrial hollow fiber-based pertraction unit for water treatment, according to the TNO technology (263). The unit can be integrated with a him evaporator to enable the release of pollutants in pure form (Figure 18b). 

A very promising method to solve this problem is coupling the photocatalysis with membrane techniques, obtaining a very powerful process with great innovation in water treatment. In fact, membrane processes, thanks to the selective property of the membranes, have been shown to be competitive with the other separation technologies for what concerns material recovery, energy costs, reduction of the environmental impact and selective or total removal of the components [77]. 

To make an appropriate choice of the membrane technique (or determine its applicability to water or wastewater treatment), it is essential to be aware of the physicochemical and biochemical properties of the solute and its components. Having such information at hand, we may consider the technical parameters of the available membrane processes. 

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