Membranes (Oct 2020)

Membrane Removal of Emerging Contaminants from Water: Which Kind of Membranes Should We Use?

  • Magda Kárászová,
  • Mahdi Bourassi,
  • Jana Gaálová

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes10110305
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 11
p. 305

Abstract

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Membrane technologies are nowadays widely used; especially various types of filtration or reverse osmosis in households, desalination plants, pharmaceutical applications etc. Facing water pollution, they are also applied to eliminate emerging contaminants from water. Incomplete knowledge directs the composition of membranes towards more and more dense materials known for their higher selectivity compared to porous constituents. This paper evaluates advantages and disadvantages of well-known membrane materials that separate on the basis of particle size, usually exposed to a large amount of water, versus dense hydrophobic membranes with target transport of emerging contaminants through a selective barrier. In addition, the authors present several membrane processes employing the second type of membrane.

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