The implications of 3D‐printed membranes for water and wastewater treatment and resource recovery

Abstract

It is widely acknowledged that three-dimensional (3D) printing or additive manufacturing will revolutionize many industries. However, the broad implications of 3D printing on water treatment membranes are not appreciated. 3D printing will transform the traditional membrane fabrication methods, reducing costs and industrial waste from manufacturing processes, with substantial benefits to treatment performance. In particular, 3D printing provides a high potential for radical decentralization. Remote communities, hospitality resorts, military bases, and oil and gas extraction operations could significantly benefit from the on-site fabrication of membrane units tunable to their specific wastewater challenges. Acute drinking water contamination events, like those associated with toxic by-products from algal blooms, chemical spills, forest fires, and extreme weather, cause adverse health effects on humans and shutdowns of piped water supply. 3D printing of customized membranes provides an opportunity for a fast response to such disastrous events. These membranes could be ready for installation within hours, with the vendor's role more akin to a software company installing a patch than the traditional approach, with major considerations for hardware availability, timeline, and supply chain. Despite these clear and potentially transformative advantages, 3D printing of membranes is not a panacea; countless aspects need to be taken into consideration for the successful implementation of this emerging technology. The full deployment of 3D-printed membranes in water and wastewater treatment can be achieved by extending the variety of printable materials, improving the speed and resolution of printing, creating nanoscale pores, reducing the fabrication costs, and improving the mechanical properties of the resulting membranes.

Low-Cost Antibacterial Ceramic Water Filters for Decentralized Water Treatment: Advances and Practical Applications

“…It is pertinent to consider the potential of three-dimensional (3D) printing technology in revolutionizing the fabrication of CWFs. − This advanced manufacturing approach offers a paradigm shift in filter production for water treatment, potentially addressing specific and localized contamination challenges with rapid, on-site production capabilities. The agility of 3D printing allows for creating filters customized to the unique needs of diverse settings, ranging from remote communities to critical infrastructure sites.…”

3D-Printed Materials for Wastewater Treatment

“…Since the utilization of 3D printing technologies for wastewater treatment still remains in the initial stage, its scalability for practical applications is one of the important aspects to be explored. However, the scale-up potential of 3D printing might be impeded due to a number of limitations such as cost of production, the rapidness of the process, difficulty in mass production, and maintaining the same functionalities at a large scale. ,, For instance, the investments in 3D printers and the complicated postprocessing steps especially with polymer-based techniques contribute significantly to the overall production cost for wastewater treatment applications . Another major challenge for commercialization is to print flat larger sheets (10 × 5 m 2 ) which is difficult to achieve with the available 3D printers given their printing width (1 m) .…”

“…To print larger structures in order to meet industrial demands, printers with multiple nozzles are being employed to produce ceramic membranes for water treatment . In addition, researchers are also working toward developing user-friendly software that can be universally interfaced with all 3D printers for standardizing the production process. , Based on the aforementioned considerations, it can be anticipated that 3D printing technologies are getting ready for industrial applications but mostly for generating parts that are otherwise highly expensive to prepare using other manufacturing techniques. For complete adaptations, serial productions and 3D printing farms would be a stepping-stone in the manufacturing process; however, the process economics and complexities will play a major role in determining their success.…”

“… 50 , 55 , 118 For instance, the investments in 3D printers and the complicated postprocessing steps especially with polymer-based techniques contribute significantly to the overall production cost for wastewater treatment applications. 118 Another major challenge for commercialization is to print flat larger sheets (10 × 5 m 2 ) which is difficult to achieve with the available 3D printers given their printing width (1 m). 12 In addition, the software used by 3D printers requires high levels of expertise to print, thereby obstructing its scale-up for practical applications.…”

Comprehensive Characterization of Commercial Reverse Osmosis Membranes through High-Temperature Cross-Flow Filtration

“…Polyamide thin-film composite (TFC), the industry-standard multilayer structure of reverse osmosis and nanofiltration membranes, is widely used in different separation applications like municipal and industrial wastewater reclamation or seawater desalination. − TFC membranes are commonly developed by coating an ultrathin cross-linked polyamide layer on the top of microporous support. , The nanoscale polyamide layer is formed via an interfacial polymerization reaction between a diamine-containing monomer (like m-phenylenediamine) and a triacyl chloride monomer (like trimesoyle chloride). Three functional groups on the trimesoyle chloride monomer form a 3-dimensional cross-linked polyamide network necessary for high salt rejection from water.…”