Vapor-gap Reverse Osmosis for Desalination and Water Reuse
Thin-film composite polyamide membranes are currently used in reverse osmosis (RO) yet they are inherently limited from their poor rejections towards small uncharged pollutants and easily damaged by chemical oxidants used in water treatment. In this work, we show that hydrophobic nanoporous membranes with entrapped nanobubbles layer inside the pores can facilitate pressure- driven desalination […]
Enhanced Wastewater Reclamation with Carbon Molecular Sieves
The global water crisis demands robust technologies to support reuse of impaired water sources. Direct potable reuse (DPR) has been limited by the poor ability of available technology to completely sequester small, neutral molecules. We hypothesize that emerging contaminants of concern can be better removed with pure carbon molecular sieve (CMS) membranes, as they are […]
Enhanced Water Recovery by a Combination of Photobiological Process and Secondary Reverse Osmosis
Overcoming water scarcity and meeting future water demand for rapidly growing populations are some of the biggest challenges facing the water industry, scientific community, and government agencies. To achieve the goal of reducing water scarcity and meeting demand water utilities and agencies have looked to rely on more unconventional and local resources such as recycled […]
Advancing Membrane Technologies for Phosphorous and Nitrogen Recovery from Human Urine
Closing the nutrient loop by recovering P and N from wastewater is crucial for protecting aquatic environments from pollutants and producing sufficient fertilizer to support growing populations. The high concentrations of phosphate and ammonia in source-separated urine offer propitious opportunities for using membrane technologies to remove P and N as contaminants and capture these nutrients […]
WRF Opens Desalination Research Needs Survey
The Water Research Foundation (WRF) is interested in addressing scientific knowledge gaps and barriers present in the desalination industry today by producing effective tools and information for implementing desalination projects. WRF is conducting a Desalination Research Needs Survey (Project #4834) for a WRF desalination research program that will help advance desalination, both ocean and brackish, as a viable and sustainable […]
Nanofibrous Membranes for the Selective Recovery of Nonaqueous Phases from Industrial Brines
Mixtures of hydrocarbons and water are ubiquitous across natural and industrial flows. Such mixtures present environmental challenges and economic opportunities. The recovery of hydrocarbons from oil and gas produced waters is particularly relevant given the growth of domestic energy production. Treatment of produced waters, either for disposal or reuse, is challenged by the presence of […]
Evaluating ion transport and selectivity of 2D titanium carbide membranes in presence of different driving forces
Transition metal carbides, carbonitrides, and nitrides or MXenes represent a large family of 2D materials derived from a class of ternary ceramic materials. It has a formula of Mn+1XnTx, where M is an early transition metal, X is carbon and/or nitrogen, and n ranges from 1 to 3 and T can be any functional moieties, […]
Phosphate Elimination and Recovery Lightweight (PEARL) Membrane: A Sustainable Environmental Remediation Approach
Aqueous phosphate pollution can negatively impact myriad ecosystems and introduces a variety of economic and public health problems. While novel remediation tactics based on nanoparticle binding have shown considerable promise in nutrient recovery from water, they are difficult to deploy at scale. The Dravid group has developed a membrane-based platform approach for environmental remediation of […]
