Electrospun Nanofiber Membranes and Their Applications in Water and Wastewater Treatment

Abstract

Electrospun nanofiber membranes (ENMs) are cutting edge new generation of membranes that offer significantly higher flux at similar rejection rate compared with the conventional membranes. Electrospinning has allowed for fabrication of highly porous ENMs with controllable pore size in the range of microfiltration and ultrafiltration. ENMs could replace conventional water treatment membranes with smaller systems that operate at lower pressures. In this chapter, the fundamentals of ENMs are presented and characterization methods, properties, and applications are discussed. IntroductionElectrospun nanofiber membranes (ENMs) are a new generation of membranes that could offer a breakthrough in water and wastewater treatment by providing lighter, less expensive, and less energy consuming processes than the existing processes including conventional membranes. The major advantages of ENMs over their conventional counterparts are their higher porosity and surface-to-volume ratio. While these cutting edge membranes have widely been used in commercial air filtration [1][2][3], their applications in water and wastewater treatment have only been explored recently [4][5][6][7].

Nanofibers as new-generation materials: From spinning and nano-spinning fabrication techniques to emerging applications

“…[215] The traditionally used membranes have intrinsic limitations, such as low flux, susceptibility to fouling, and formation of pinholes during the preparation steps. Nanofiber membranes could replace such membranes in smaller treatment systems that operate at low pressures [216]. The major advantage of nanofiber membranes in wastewater are their ultra-high filtration efficiency [216].…”

“…Nanofiber membranes could replace such membranes in smaller treatment systems that operate at low pressures [216]. The major advantage of nanofiber membranes in wastewater are their ultra-high filtration efficiency [216]. Nanofiber membrane could remove submicron particles (e.g., bacteria, and dust particles) by size exclusion.…”

“…Different polymer and ceramic nanofiber membrane types, such as poly(vinyl alcohol), polyethylene terephthalate, PAN, silica, and alumina, have been developed for airborne particle filtration [234]. The major advantages of nanofiber membranes in air cleaning are their high filtration efficiency and low air resistance [216].…”

Silver-incorporated poly vinylidene fluoride nanofibers for bacterial filtration

“…In addition, it comes under the category of high value low input class due to its minute size and efficiency. Among various technologies available including cyclotrons, wet scrubbers, electrostatic precipitators, gravimetric precipitators, etc., fibrous filters own their peak application due to their higher efficiency collection particles up to less than one micrometer (Tabe 2014;Mohraz et al 2018).…”

Boron nitride nanotube–salt–water hybrid:crystalline precipitation

“…The multi-stage flash distillation method tackles the issue of scale accumulation caused by distillation and has the benefits of maturity, reliability, and high yield, but high energy consumption; the low-temperature multi-effect distillation method has little pretreatment of seawater, and energy saving but has low efficiency and low stability; the reverse osmosis membrane method has low investment and energy consumption, while the typical reverse osmosis membrane is low flux and easy to contaminate [2][3][4]. Nanofiber membranes have ultra-high filtration efficiency and high throughput and can remove submicron particles [5]. Researchers have developed nanofiber membranes made of various materials [6][7][8][9][10] that can address the problem of toxic condensate formation and membrane contamination as well as catalyze and remove a variety of impurities in water.…”