Application of membrane distillation for purification of radioactive liquid

Abstract

Low-level radioactive wastewater contains not only radionuclides but also a variety of inorganic and organic pollutants, which have an increasingly profound negative impact on the environment and humans. Therefore, diverse technologies, including chemical precipitation, evaporation and concentration, electrochemistry, and other methods of purifying radioactive wastewater have been developed, but these strategies generally suffer from secondary pollution or unsatisfactory purification effects. To further improve the purification efficiency with minimized secondary pollution, membrane distillation has emerged as a better purification technology than the aforementioned techniques for radioactive wastewater because of its greater volume reduction efficiency. This notable advantage of membrane distillation promotes the sustainable development and green use of nuclear power for harmonious co-existence between man and nature, which has thus enabled its rapid development and wide application in the process of radioactive wastewater and large amounts of low-level radioactive wastewater being discharged from nuclear power plants. It is necessary to make a timely review summarizing the progress made in this research field. To this end, we first provide a brief review of treatment strategies for low-concentration radioactive wastewater, followed by a focus on membrane distillation, with a comprehensive report and a detailed description of the mechanism, membrane structure, membrane modules, membrane materials, and applications. Different types of membrane pollution and mitigation strategies are later summarized. Finally, the existing challenges and possible solutions in this rapidly developing field are discussed. This review will assist in the application of membrane distillation in practical research and industry.

Keywords

• Membrane distillation
• Decontamination technologies
• Membrane fouling