Inorganic Micropollutants Removal by Means of Membrane Processes - State of the Art

Abstract

A number of inorganic anions and metals, especially heavy metals, at certain conditions, have been found in potentially harmful concentrations in numerous water sources. The maximum permissible levels of these compounds, in drinking water and wastewaters discharged to environment, set by the WHO and a number of countries are very low (from µg/dm 3 to a few mg/dm 3 ). Several common treatment technologies, which are nowadays used for removal of inorganic contaminants from natural water supplies, represent serious exploitation problems. Membrane processes such as reverse osmosis and nanofiltration, ultrafiltration and microfiltration in integrated systems, Donnan dialysis and electrodialysis as well as membrane bioreactors, if properly selected, offer the advantage of producing high quality drinking water without inorganic substances as well as purified wastewater which can be drained off to natural water sources.

New Methods of Natural Gas Adjusting for Technological Purposes Based on Modern Filtration Materials

“…Membranes are considering in such processes as biogas upgrading, natural gas sweetening, air components separation, air and natural gas dehydrating [6,7]. They are also used in the treatment of water containing various micropollutants for drinking and industrial purposes [8].…”

A comprehensive analysis of membrane fouling in microfiltration of complex linear macromolecules based on theoretical modeling and FESEM images

“…Besides, conventional treatment technologies (e.g. chemical precipitation, adsorption, ion exchange, classical solvent extraction and biological methods) applied to eliminate organic and inorganic contaminants from water resources can lead to serious exploitation problems 2–8 . For instance, the elimination of MPs during water and wastewater treatment is typically conducted via activated carbon sorption or advanced oxidation processes.…”

Pilot Tests and Fouling Identification in the Ultrafiltration of Model Oily and Saline Wastewaters

“…Treatment technologies employed for such waste streams are the multistage ones [4,5]. In the hybrid technologies there were widely applied pressure membrane processes such as MF (microfiltration), UF (ultrafiltration) NF (nanofiltration) and RO (reverse osmosis) that were based primarily on ceramic membranes, characterized by high chemical and thermal resistance [6,7]. The main advantage of the use of membrane separation techniques is the ability to achieve a treated stream (permeate) meeting the environmental requirements and significantly reduced, compared to the waste stream undergoing the treatment concentrated stream (retentate), which must then be utilized at the ship or on land [8,9].…”