Evolution of polymeric hollow fibers as sustainable technologies: Past, present, and future

Energy, water, affordable healthcare and global warming are four major global concerns resulting from resource depletion, record high oil prices, clean water shortages, high costs of pharmaceuticals, and changing climate conditions. Among many potential solutions, advances in membrane technology afford direct, effective and feasible approaches to solve these sophisticated issues. Membrane technology encompasses numerous technology areas including materials science and engineering, chemistry and chemical engineering, separation and purification phenomena, molecular simulation, as well as process and product design. Currently, polymeric hollow fiber membranes made using a non-solvent-induced phase inversion process are the dominant products because polymers offer a broad spectrum of materials chemistry and result in membranes with desirable physicochemical properties for diverse applications. Their low cost and ease of fabrication make polymeric membranes superior to inorganic membranes. Therefore, this review focuses on state-of-the-art polymeric hollow fiber membranes made from non-solvent-induced phase inversion and the potential of membrane processes for sustainable water and energy production. The specific topics include: (i) basic principles of hollow fiber membrane formation and the phase inversion process; (ii) membranes for energy (natural gas, H₂, and biofuel) production; (iii) membranes for CO₂ capture; and (iv) emerging desalination technologies (forward osmosis and membrane distillation) for water production. Finally, future opportunities and challenges for the development of advanced membrane structures are discussed.     

Pilot plants of membrane technology in industry: Challenges and key learnings

Membrane technology holds great potential in gas separation applications, especially carbon dioxide capture from industrial processes. To achieve this potential, the outputs from global research endeavours into membrane technologies must be trialled in industrial processes, which requires membrane-based pilot plants. These pilot plants are critical to the commercialization of membrane technology, be it as gas separation membranes or membrane gas-solvent contactors, as failure at the pilot plant level may delay the development of the technology for decades. Here, the author reports on his experience of operating membrane-based pilot plants for gas separation and contactor configurations as part of three industrial carbon capture initiatives: the Mulgrave project, H3 project and Vales Point project. Specifically, the challenges of developing and operating membrane pilot plants are presented, as well as the key learnings on how to successfully manage membrane pilot plants to achieve desired performance outcomes. The purpose is to assist membrane technologists in the carbon capture field to achieve successful outcomes for their technology innovations.     

膜软化及其应用

膜软化为近十几年发展起来的一种新的水软化工艺,属发离技术中的纳滤分离过程,具有无污染、无需再生、工艺简单、操作方便、设备占地省、出水水质好等优点,在国际上已得到广泛应用。作者主要阐述了膜软化的原理、软化用膜及其性能、膜软化过程及膜软化器设计等方面的内容;详细论述了膜软化在常规水脱硬、高硬度海岛水软化、海水去除硫酸盐和预软化等方面的应用;对膜软化过程的经济性进行了评述,并将膜软化的制水成本与常规软化     

An overview of arsenic removal by pressure-drivenmembrane processes

Management of hazardous wastes, such as arsenic, is one of major public concern. Arsenic is a naturally occurring metalloid, which is widely distributed in nature. Recently, arsenic in drinking water attracted attention because some of the drinking water resources contain considerable concentrations of arsenic which cause acute; and chronic symptoms in many countries, especially in Bangladesh, China, Mongolia, and Taiwan. In 2001, the USEPA promulgated a rule lowering the arsenic MCL from 5 μgL⁻¹ to 10 μgL⁻¹. This paper offers an overview of geochemistry, distribution, sources, regulations, acute and chronic symptoms, and applications of membrane technologies in the water treatment research that have already been realized or that are suggested on the basis of bench or lab scale research. These membrane technologies include RO, NF, UF, and MF. Most of theses applications have proven to be reliable in removing arsenic from water. The possible influence of some source water parameters, membrane material, membrane types, membrane processes on arsenic removal efficiency by membrane technologies are also explored. This review paper also offers data relating to regulations of arsenic standard, acute and chronic symptoms that are caused by the exposure of arsenic to explain why water treatments need to use the membrane technology to meet the MCL standard.     

Nanotechnology in Refractory Patent Applications

Nanotechnology is one of the most important hightech in the 21 st century. The application of nanotechnology to refractory industry is fruitful. It has created many advanced products,and produced a large amount of patents. In this paper,we analyze the nanotechnology in refractory patent applications to find out the technology development trends. It will help the domestic enterprises to learn the state of global patent applications in refractory industry,promote their technologies,and create better products.     

Sustainability and membrane processing of wastewater for reuse

Sustainability has various meanings in the context of water reclamation and reuse. In one sense it acknowledges that to sustain our water supplies we must develop technologies that can efficiently reclaim wastewater to augment natural supplies. Membrane technology is playing a vital role in this application. However a largely unasked question is how well do the membrane technologies we use and the way we operate them stand up to scrutiny based on ‘sustainable development’ criteria? Finally at the technical and operational level we have the age-old problem of fouling and its impact on ‘sustainable’ long-term operation. This paper addresses the three levels of sustainability in the context of membrane technology and water reclamation.     

反渗透膜技术研究和应用进展

反渗透膜技术是20世纪60年代兴起的一门新型分离技术,是目前最为先进的分离技术之一,应用广泛。反渗透是渗透的逆过程,它是以压力差为推动力的膜分离过程。简单介绍了反渗透膜技术产生的背景和发展概况,着重论述了国内外反渗透膜技术的研究现状,介绍了反渗透膜在海水和苦咸水淡化、纯水制备以及医药和化工废水处理等方面的应用,并进一步探讨了反渗透膜技术目前存在的问题和未来发展趋势。     

生物质焙烧技术的研究与应用进展

综述了国内外生物质焙烧原料、焙烧工艺与设备、焙烧产品性能及潜在应用领域等研究与应用进展,并提出了我国生物质焙烧技术今后的重点研发方向。     

吸附式空气取水系统用吸湿材料研究进展

吸附式空气取水技术因其适用环境范围广、低碳环保的特性，被认为是解决全球水资源短缺问题的重要技术之一。吸湿材料的特性决定着该技术的取水性能。本文对吸湿材料的最新研究进行了系统的归纳与总结。重点介绍了吸湿性聚合物和复合吸湿剂（多孔材料-盐、聚合物-盐、聚合物-聚合物和多孔材料-聚合物），并对各类吸湿剂的性能特点以及在吸附式空气取水系统的应用展开详细介绍。发现复合吸湿剂的吸湿性能更强，特别是聚合物类复合吸湿剂，满足宽领域吸附的要求，进而提高了在干旱地区的取水效果，在未来具有很好的应用前景。最后，指出了吸湿材料需要进一步研究和解决的相关问题，以期为推进吸附式空气取水技术早日实现从实验室研究到规模化工业应用提供有价值的借鉴和参考。     

膜分离法污水处理技术

介绍了膜分离技术及其特点，回顾了膜分离技术及其在污水处理领域中的应用发展概况；详细分析了电渗析、微滤、超滤、反渗透和纳滤五种膜分离技术和它们在污水处理领域中的应用开发现状以及存在的问题；还概括了膜分离技术（包括膜制备、膜组件和膜工艺）中最新应用开发动向，并对膜分离技术在污水处理领域中的应用前景作了展望。可以预计，本世纪膜分离技术将得到迅速的发展，在污水处理领域发挥极其重要的作用。     

无机膜及无机膜反应器的发展和应用

无机膜具有强度高、孔径容易控制、化学性质稳定、热稳定性好、易再生和不易老化等优点,成为膜技术领域重要研究方向,膜反应器是它的应用之一。综述了无机膜的发展状况,包括无机膜的分类和最新研究,无机膜反应器的特点、类型和它的作用;重点介绍了无机膜的应用和无机膜反应器的分类及应用研究,并提出了实现其工业化的不足。     

Review: is interplay between nanomaterial and membrane technology the way forward for desalination?

Nanomaterials, which have been the greatest impetus to technological and industrial development in the twenty‐first century, have spurred significant innovations and knowledge enhancement in the environmental applications particularly to revolutionize century‐old conventional water treatment processes. The established protocols to prepare such hybrid nanocomposites have triggered blossoming interest and to realize most of these applications practically. Similarly, engineered nanomaterials unfold avenues and offer myriad opportunities to explore their impact in various fields and have certainly a great impact on the future of desalination practice. After the review and examination of published materials describing the development of nano‐enabled membranes that have been undertaken in recent years, this short review aims at stimulating new ideas and thoughts in the membrane desalination field where we are strongly convinced that it will represent one of the key areas for the realization of a sustainable generation of materials that can benefit mankind. More particularly, this review draws attention to the incorporation of inorganic nanomaterials into conventional polymeric membranes and deals with the practical challenges to implementation of technology for desalination applications. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry     

二硫化钼作为海水淡化材料的研究进展

海水淡化是从丰富的海水资源中提取清洁淡水的技术,是解决淡水资源短缺的重要途径。传统的海水淡化技术在实际应用中已经暴露出高成本、高能耗和低效率等缺点,因此开发海水淡化新兴技术及材料成为研究重点。二硫化钼（MoS₂）是典型层状过渡金属硫化物,因其化学稳定、吸光能力优异等优点,在海水淡化领域具有极大的应用前景。作为一种高效环保的海水淡化材料,MoS₂及其复合材料在改善传统脱盐工艺和发展新兴脱盐技术中已得到广泛研究。本文主要论述和分析MoS₂基材料在电容去离子、膜脱盐及太阳能脱盐等海水淡化应用中的研究进展以及在工业化应用中面临的挑战,并展望其今后在脱盐领域的发展方向。     

Membrane bioreactors for hospital wastewater treatment: recent advancements in membranes and processes

Discharged hospital wastewater contains various pathogenic microorganisms, antibiotic groups, toxic organic compounds, radioactive elements, and ionic pollutants. These contaminants harm the environment and human health causing the spread of disease. Thus, effective treatment of hospital wastewater is an urgent task for sustainable development. Membranes, with controllable porous and nonporous structures, have been rapidly developed for molecular separations. In particular, membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology demonstrated high removal efficiency toward organic compounds and low waste sludge production. To further enhance the separation efficiency and achieve material recovery from hospital waste streams, novel concepts of MBRs and their applications are rapidly evolved through hybridizing novel membranes (non hydrophilic ultrafiltration/microfiltration) into the MBR units (hybrid MBRs) or the MBR as a pretreatment step and integrating other membrane processes as subsequent secondary purification step (integrated MBR-membrane systems). However, there is a lack of reviews on the latest advancement in MBR technologies for hospital wastewater treatment, and analysis on its major challenges and future trends. This review started with an overview of main pollutants in common hospital wastewater, followed by an understanding on the key performance indicators/criteria in MBR membranes (i.e., solute selectivity) and processes (e.g., fouling). Then, an in-depth analysis was provided into the recent development of hybrid MBR and integrated MBR-membrane system concepts, and applications correlated with wastewater sources, with a particular focus on hospital wastewaters. It is anticipated that this review will shed light on the knowledge gaps in the field, highlighting the potential contribution of hybrid MBRs and integrated MBR-membrane systems toward global epidemic prevention.     

沸石咪唑骨架膜的制备及其应用进展

近年来,将金属-有机骨架材料(MOFs)和膜基材料结合,制备新型MOFs分离膜成为膜领域研究的热点之一。由于MOFs具有类似分子筛结构和空间拓扑结构,在分离、催化等方面具有潜在的应用前景。沸石咪唑框架材料(ZIFs)作为MOFs中重要分支之一,因其具有优异的热稳定性和化学稳定性被应用于膜分离。本工作重点阐述了原位生长、界面反扩散、逐层组装、二次生长、气相沉积和微流体处理等方法制备ZIFs多晶膜和杂化膜,并系统介绍了ZIFs复合膜在染料与重金属离子去除、气体分离、天然气净化、生物医药和电化学传感中的应用。最后,总结了ZIFs复合膜制备过程中存在的问题和挑战,并对ZIFs复合膜未来研究的方向提出了展望。     

Ecological and Economic Evaluation of Hydrogen Production by Different Water Electrolysis Technologies

The economic and ecological production of green hydrogen by water electrolysis is one of the major challenges within Carbon2Chem® and other power-to-X projects. This paper presents an evaluation of the different water electrolysis technologies with respect to their specific energy demand, carbon footprint and the forecast production costs in 2030. From a current perspective alkaline water electrolysis is evaluated as the most favorable technology for the cost-effective production of low-carbon hydrogen with fluctuating renewables.     

高浓度煤气化废水处理技术研究进展

煤气化废水是煤气化过程中产生的废水,具有污染物浓度高、有毒、难降解等水质特点。从高浓度煤气化废水处理工艺的物化预处理、生化处理和深度处理三个环节介绍了煤气化废水处理技术的研究现状,并着重分析各处理技术的优缺点和在应用中存在的问题。展望了煤气化废水处理技术的未来研究方向,即脱酚和蒸氨工艺的优化、膜生物反应器强化工艺及膜技术深度处理的进一步研究,为解决煤气化废水治理难题提供借鉴和参考。     

EDI新技术及其在医药用水制备中的应用

电去离子(EDI)作为一种结合电渗析和离子交换两者优点的新型膜分离技术,现已逐步应用于医药、电子、电力、生物技术等领域。文章介绍了EDI技术工作原理,着重分析了其在国内外医药用水制备中的应用状况。EDI与RO等相结合的膜分离技术将是21世纪最有前景的医药用水生产技术之一。     

Carbon capture from stationary power generation sources: A review of the current status of the technologies

The world will need greatly increased energy supply in the future for sustained economic growth, but the related CO₂ emissions and the resulting climate changes are becoming major concerns. CO₂ is one of the most important greenhouse gases that is said to be responsible for approximately 60% of the global warming. Along with improvement of energy efficiency and increased use of renewable energy sources, carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is expected to play a major role in curbing the greenhouse gas emissions on a global scale. This article reviews the various options and technologies for CO₂ capture, specifically for stationary power generation sources. Many options exist for carbon dioxide capture from such sources, which vary with power plant types, and include post-combustion capture, pre-combustion capture, oxy fuel combustion capture, and chemical looping combustion capture. Various carbon dioxide separation technologies can be utilized with these options, such as chemical absorption, physical absorption, adsorption, and membrane separation. Most of these capture technologies are still at early stages of development. Recent progress and remaining challenges for the various CO₂ capture options and technologies are reviewed in terms of capacity, selectivity, stability, energy requirements, etc. Hybrid and modified systems hold huge future potentials, but significant progress is required in materials synthesis and stability, and implementations of these systems on demonstration plants are needed. Improvements and progress made through applications of process systems engineering concepts and tools are highlighted and current gaps in the knowledge are also mentioned. Finally, some recommendations are made for future research directions.