DEVELOPMENT OF NEW NANOFILTRATION MEMBRANES

Abstract

Faced with increasingly stringent regulations governing the discharge of wastewater containing heavy metal ions, various industries are demanding more efficient and effective treatment methods. Among the various existing methods, nanofiltration (NF) has been proven to be a feasible and promising option. However, the development of new NF membrane materials and applications is constantly required for the advancement of this technology. To this end, in the first part of this dissertation, the development of a new composite NF membrane which comprises of a pentablock copolymer selective layer for the removal of heavy metal ions is explored. In the second part of this dissertation, the conceptual demonstration of the recovery of phosphates from sewage sludge to address the rapid depletion of mineral phosphorus has been carried out. A NF membrane that is desirable for the phosphorus recovery has been fabricated by effectively controlled the interfacial polymerization between polyethyleneimine and TMC on a porous polyethersulfone ultrafiltration membrane substrate.