Drawing on Membrane Photocatalysis for Fouling Mitigation

Abstract

Photocatalysis is an effective and environmentally friendly approach for degrading organic pollutants, particularly in scenarios where sunlight can be utilized as the energy source. Opportunities are emerging to apply materials and methods from photocatalytic pollutant degradation to address the challenge of fouling. Membrane fouling, attributed to organic foulants, is a prevalent problem for all membrane-based technologies and represents a major deleterious impact on membrane performance. Integration of tactics developed in photocatalysis more broadly to membranes reveals new strategies for membrane fouling controlan approach taken by an increasing number of researchers. This review summarizes key developments in photocatalytic materials and methods in water treatment and presents recent progress in the development of processes for photocatalytic alleviation of membrane fouling, including photocatalyst design and modification strategies aimed at enhancing photocatalytic efficiency, as well as different configurations of photocatalysis−membrane systems (PMS). Perspectives on future research and development opportunities for photocatalytic membrane fouling control are also provided.

Review of New Approaches for Fouling Mitigation in Membrane Separation Processes in Water Treatment Applications

“…The application of photocatalysis techniques t membranes offers novel ways for membrane fouling management, which is being pur sued by an increasing number of researchers. Zhang et al [124] summarize key develop ments in photocatalytic materials and methods in water treatment and present recent pro gress in the development of processes for the photocatalytic alleviation of membrane fou ing, including photocatalyst design and modification strategies aimed at improving pho tocatalytic efficiency, as well as different photocatalysis membrane system configuration (PMS). Photocatalysis is an efficient and ecologically beneficial method of decomposing organic contaminants, especially when sunlight is available as an energy source [122,123].…”

SWOT analysis of photocatalytic materials towards large scale environmental remediation

“…Many unique properties of photocatalysis could be further developed and transferred to specific use in real applications, e.g., (i): the photocatalytic conversion of some toxic compounds into valuable products. (ii): the incorporation of photocatalysis to reduce the common issue of fouling in ultrafiltration membrane systems [42] •. (iii): the coating of construction tiles with photoactive nanomaterials to get self-cleaning materials a most favourable option that has attracted industrial interests [43] •, etc.…”

Promising Sustainable Models Toward Water, Air, and Solid Sustainable Management in the View of SDGs

“…Electrospinning is massively applied for the fabrication of various membranes (Xue et al 2019). This strategy opens ways toward the synthesis of multifunctional membranes where biomass-derived polymers have the ability to selectively and effectively separate organic pollutant from water and the photocatalyst nanoparticles can interact with and degrade a wide range of pollutants under solar light with superior antifouling property (Zhang et al 2021a). Another scalable technique such as additive manufacturing or 3D printing has emerged as a valuable platform for fabricating scalable configurations and shape engineering porous materials with broad applications in the field of catalysis and separation (Lawson et al 2021).…”