Rejection and fate of trace organic compounds (TrOCs) during membrane distillation

Abstract

In this study, we examined the feasibility of membrane distillation (MD) for removing trace organic compounds (TrOCs) during water and wastewater treatment. A set of 29 compounds was selected to represent major TrOC groups, including pharmaceuticals, steroid hormones, phytoestrogens, UV-filters, industrial chemicals, and pesticides that occur ubiquitously in municipal wastewater. Results reported here suggest that rejection and fate and transport of TrOC during MD are governed by their volatility and, to a lesser extent, hydrophobicity. All TrOCs with pKH > 9 (which can be classified as non-volatile) were well removed by MD. Among the 29 TrOCs investigated in this study, three compounds (i.e. 4-tertoctylphenol, 4-tert-butylphenol and benzophenone) possess moderate volatility (pKH < 9) and therefore had the lowest rejection efficiencies of 54, 73 and 66%, respectively. The results suggest that the rejection of TrOCs with pKH < 9 may be governed by the interplay between their hydrophobicity and volatility. In addition, the fate and transport of the TrOCs during the MD process was also investigated. Hydrophilic TrOCs having negligible volatility were concentrated in the feed, while hydrophobic compounds with moderate volatility were substantially lost due to evaporation or adsorption. When MD treatment was integrated with a thermophilic membrane bioreactor (MBR), near complete removal (> 95%) of all 29 TrOCs investigated in this study was achieved despite their diverse physicochemical properties (i.e. hydrophobicity, persistency and volatility). The results suggest that MD could be a promising post-treatment to be used in conjunction with thermophilic MBR for TrOC removal.

An ultrasonic assisted direct contact membrane distillation hybrid process for desalination

“…In recent years, MD displays a very good application prospect in desalination [3][4][5]. Compared with conventional desalination processes such as nanofiltration (NF), reverse osmosis (RO) and thermal evaporation, MD can utilize waste heat of low quality, treat wastewater containing higher salt concentration [6][7][8], and even remove some organics that used to be difficult to remove [9][10][11]. According to the adopted condensation methods, the MD systems can be classified into four different categories: direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD), air gap membrane distillation (AGMD), sweeping gas membrane distillation (SGMD) and vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) [12].…”

Removal of Emerging Contaminants for Water Reuse by Membrane Technology

“…Moreover, most of these are concerned with industrial chemicals such as benzene [60] and trichloroethylene [61] at an elevated feed concentration. Two recent studies by Wijekoon et al, [62,63] are the only exception.…”

“…Wijekoon et al, [62] = Vapour pressure×MW/water solubility. Wijekoon et al, [62] showed that all TrOCs with pK H > 9 (which can be classified as non-volatile) were well removed by MD.…”

“…Wijekoon et al, [62] showed that all TrOCs with pK H > 9 (which can be classified as non-volatile) were well removed by MD. Among the 29…”

“…Wijekoon et al, [62] also hypothesized that the rejection of TrOCs with pK H < 9 is governed by the interplay between their hydrophobicity and volatility. Hydrophilic TrOCs having negligible volatility were concentrated in the feed, while hydrophobic compounds with moderate volatility were substantially lost due to evaporation or adsorption.…”