The Application of Polymer Inclusion Membranes for the Removal of Emerging Contaminants and Synthetic Dyes from Aqueous Solutions—A Mini Review

Abstract

Pollution of the environment, including water resources, is currently one of the greatest challenges due to emerging new contaminants of anthropogenic origin. Of particular concern are emerging organic pollutants such as pharmaceuticals, endocrine disruptors, and pesticides, but also other industrial pollutants, for example, synthetic dyes. The growing demand for environmentally friendly and economical methods of removing emerging contaminants and synthetic dyes from wastewater resulted in increased interest in the possibility of using techniques based on the application of polymer inclusion membranes (PIMs) for this purpose. PIM-based techniques are promising methods for eliminating emerging contaminants and synthetic dyes from aqueous solutions, including wastewater, due to high efficiency, membranes versatility, ease/low cost of preparation, and high selectivity. This review describes the latest developments related to the removal of various emerging contaminants and synthetic dyes from aqueous solutions using PIMs over the past few years, with particular emphasis on research aimed at increasing the effectiveness and selectivity of PIMs, which may contribute to wider use of these methods in the future.

A Comprehensive Review on Modification of Titanium Dioxide‐Based Catalysts in Advanced Oxidation Processes for Water Treatment

“…All these reactions enhance the generation of different oxygen species specially * OH radicals as shown in Eqs. (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8). [96,97,103,[111][112][113] UV=H 2 O 2 :…”

“…Uncontrolled discharge of untreated water containing these micropollutants from various plants ends up in the environment and results in water pollution. The detection of emerging contaminants, even at low concentrations can have adverse effects on human health and a drastic impact on ecosystem [3,5–7] . Therefore, it has become urgent to prevent the world from water scarcity problem by development of appropriate purification systems to remove target pollutants.…”

“…The detection of emerging contaminants, even at low concentrations can have adverse effects on human health and a drastic impact on ecosystem. [3,[5][6][7] Therefore, it has become urgent to prevent the world from water scarcity problem by development of appropriate purification systems to remove target pollutants. Since, conventional wastewater treatments are insufficient to achieve overall treated water quality, biorefractory organic traces are still detected in aquatic sources.…”

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“…These are classified according to the type of pests they control as insecticides, fungicides, acaricides, nematicides, rodenticides, molluscicides, ovicides, and herbicides, the latter being one of the largest environmental pollutants worldwide, because they are used in most crops for weed control . After said application, a small part of these herbicides can protect agricultural products, while a high percentage of these are dispersed in the environment through hydrolysis, volatilization, or microbial action, causing a harmful effect because of their good solubility and mobility in aqueous media, their relatively low biodegradability, and their low persistence in soil. − These substances have been considered by many researchers to be highly toxic to humans and marine organisms, causing severe cardiovascular problems, nervous system disorders, hormonal disorders, muscle degeneration, cancer, and genotoxicity. − Therefore, it is of vital importance to remove these emerging pollutants from the environmental system, as it is very harmful to ecosystems.…”

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“…), pesticides, phenols, pharmaceuticals, and antibiotics and their metabolites have been shown to be exceedingly harmful. Due to challenges like low biodegradability, and a protracted lifespan of deterioration in the ecosystem, the resulting contaminants after the treatment are also considered hazardous [8][9][10][11] .Traditional wastewater treatment techniques, including filtration, adsorption, chemical coagulation, biological treatment, flocculation, etc., are typically ineffective at degrading aromatic and heterocyclic groups in their molecular structure. For instance, filtration (such as membrane and depth filtration) suffers from being clogged easily by foreign particles in the wastewater, and regular membrane replacement and filtration processes are often expensive.…”