Elucidating the fouling mechanism in pharmaceutical wastewater treatment by membrane distillation

Jiaxin Guo; Luca Fortunato; Bhaskar Jyoti Deka; Sanghyun Jeong; Alicia Kyoungjin An

doi:10.1016/j.desal.2019.114148

Elucidating the fouling mechanism in pharmaceutical wastewater treatment by membrane distillation

Jiaxin Guo, Luca Fortunato, Bhaskar Jyoti Deka, Sanghyun Jeong, Alicia Kyoungjin An

Biological, Environmental Sciences and Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

This study investigated the fouling mechanism in pharmaceutical wastewater treatment by membrane distillation, with a focus on the interfacial electrokinetic effect between the membrane and foulants as well as the surface hydrophobicity effect, and an advanced in-situ optical coherence tomography (OCT) technology. Three antibiotics with different surface charges were used as feed solutions, consisting of cefotaxime (CTX, negatively charged), tobramycin (TOB, positively charged) and ciprofloxacin (CFX, neutral) for studying the interfacial electrokinetic effect. In order to study the influence of membrane hydrophobicity on the fouling process, two commercial membranes with different hydrophobicity were employed; commercial polyvinylidene fluoride (C-PVDF) and commercial polytetrafluoroethylene (C-PTFE). Additionally, we also fabricated a fouling resistant polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane coated with perfluorooctyltriethoxysilane (FTES)-TiO2 nanoparticles to engineer the surface charge and energy, and to achieve a superhydrophobic surface. After the MD operation, OCT scans detected no visible foulant layer on the three negatively charged membranes when treating negatively charged CTX. On the other hand, in the case of positively charged TOB, the rejection efficiency was only 78% due to its accumulation behavior on the C-PVDF membrane surface, with a thick foulant layer (326–408 μm) and blockage of pores, while the TiO2-PVDF membrane exhibited a stable performance.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	114148
Journal	Desalination
Volume	475
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2019.114148
State	Published - Nov 9 2019

Bibliographical note

KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01
Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong through Project 21201316 and 11207717, and the Basic Science Research Program Fund through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NFR) funded by the Ministry of Education (2017R1A6A3A04004335). The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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10.1016/j.desal.2019.114148

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@article{24e308c354524fb88433701f65028526,

title = "Elucidating the fouling mechanism in pharmaceutical wastewater treatment by membrane distillation",

abstract = "This study investigated the fouling mechanism in pharmaceutical wastewater treatment by membrane distillation, with a focus on the interfacial electrokinetic effect between the membrane and foulants as well as the surface hydrophobicity effect, and an advanced in-situ optical coherence tomography (OCT) technology. Three antibiotics with different surface charges were used as feed solutions, consisting of cefotaxime (CTX, negatively charged), tobramycin (TOB, positively charged) and ciprofloxacin (CFX, neutral) for studying the interfacial electrokinetic effect. In order to study the influence of membrane hydrophobicity on the fouling process, two commercial membranes with different hydrophobicity were employed; commercial polyvinylidene fluoride (C-PVDF) and commercial polytetrafluoroethylene (C-PTFE). Additionally, we also fabricated a fouling resistant polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane coated with perfluorooctyltriethoxysilane (FTES)-TiO2 nanoparticles to engineer the surface charge and energy, and to achieve a superhydrophobic surface. After the MD operation, OCT scans detected no visible foulant layer on the three negatively charged membranes when treating negatively charged CTX. On the other hand, in the case of positively charged TOB, the rejection efficiency was only 78% due to its accumulation behavior on the C-PVDF membrane surface, with a thick foulant layer (326–408 μm) and blockage of pores, while the TiO2-PVDF membrane exhibited a stable performance.",

author = "Jiaxin Guo and Luca Fortunato and Deka, {Bhaskar Jyoti} and Sanghyun Jeong and An, {Alicia Kyoungjin}",

note = "KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01 Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong through Project 21201316 and 11207717, and the Basic Science Research Program Fund through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NFR) funded by the Ministry of Education (2017R1A6A3A04004335). The authors declare no competing financial interests.",

year = "2019",

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doi = "10.1016/j.desal.2019.114148",

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AU - Guo, Jiaxin

AU - Fortunato, Luca

AU - Deka, Bhaskar Jyoti

AU - Jeong, Sanghyun

AU - An, Alicia Kyoungjin

N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01 Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong through Project 21201316 and 11207717, and the Basic Science Research Program Fund through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NFR) funded by the Ministry of Education (2017R1A6A3A04004335). The authors declare no competing financial interests.

PY - 2019/11/9

Y1 - 2019/11/9

N2 - This study investigated the fouling mechanism in pharmaceutical wastewater treatment by membrane distillation, with a focus on the interfacial electrokinetic effect between the membrane and foulants as well as the surface hydrophobicity effect, and an advanced in-situ optical coherence tomography (OCT) technology. Three antibiotics with different surface charges were used as feed solutions, consisting of cefotaxime (CTX, negatively charged), tobramycin (TOB, positively charged) and ciprofloxacin (CFX, neutral) for studying the interfacial electrokinetic effect. In order to study the influence of membrane hydrophobicity on the fouling process, two commercial membranes with different hydrophobicity were employed; commercial polyvinylidene fluoride (C-PVDF) and commercial polytetrafluoroethylene (C-PTFE). Additionally, we also fabricated a fouling resistant polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane coated with perfluorooctyltriethoxysilane (FTES)-TiO2 nanoparticles to engineer the surface charge and energy, and to achieve a superhydrophobic surface. After the MD operation, OCT scans detected no visible foulant layer on the three negatively charged membranes when treating negatively charged CTX. On the other hand, in the case of positively charged TOB, the rejection efficiency was only 78% due to its accumulation behavior on the C-PVDF membrane surface, with a thick foulant layer (326–408 μm) and blockage of pores, while the TiO2-PVDF membrane exhibited a stable performance.

AB - This study investigated the fouling mechanism in pharmaceutical wastewater treatment by membrane distillation, with a focus on the interfacial electrokinetic effect between the membrane and foulants as well as the surface hydrophobicity effect, and an advanced in-situ optical coherence tomography (OCT) technology. Three antibiotics with different surface charges were used as feed solutions, consisting of cefotaxime (CTX, negatively charged), tobramycin (TOB, positively charged) and ciprofloxacin (CFX, neutral) for studying the interfacial electrokinetic effect. In order to study the influence of membrane hydrophobicity on the fouling process, two commercial membranes with different hydrophobicity were employed; commercial polyvinylidene fluoride (C-PVDF) and commercial polytetrafluoroethylene (C-PTFE). Additionally, we also fabricated a fouling resistant polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane coated with perfluorooctyltriethoxysilane (FTES)-TiO2 nanoparticles to engineer the surface charge and energy, and to achieve a superhydrophobic surface. After the MD operation, OCT scans detected no visible foulant layer on the three negatively charged membranes when treating negatively charged CTX. On the other hand, in the case of positively charged TOB, the rejection efficiency was only 78% due to its accumulation behavior on the C-PVDF membrane surface, with a thick foulant layer (326–408 μm) and blockage of pores, while the TiO2-PVDF membrane exhibited a stable performance.

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DO - 10.1016/j.desal.2019.114148

M3 - Article

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VL - 475

SP - 114148

JO - Desalination

JF - Desalination

ER -

Elucidating the fouling mechanism in pharmaceutical wastewater treatment by membrane distillation

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