IDP Ion Exchange

Recent Advances In Membrane Technology for

Waste-Water Treatment
Traditional

water

treatment

methods

include

physical

separation

techniques for particle removal; biological and chemical treatments to

remove suspended solids, organic matter and dissolved pollutants or
toxins;

and

other

mechanical

methods.

Recent

developments

in

technology have resulted in breakthroughs in wastewater treatment and

reclamation

for

water

reuse.

This

progress

includes

membrane

technology, which has emerged as a significant innovation for treatment

and reclamation.
Already used for niche applications, usually involving high-value liquid
streams, membrane filtration was introduced in drinking water treatment
in the 1950s, mainly for desalination of seawater, brackish water and
groundwater. Since that time, advances in materials, system designs and
process combinations have opened the door to affordable implementation
in more aspects of the overall water cycle, including production of drinking
and

process

water;

industrial

process

and

wastewater

treatment;

municipal sewage treatment; product recovery from aqueous streams;

and treatment of groundwater, agricultural waste streams.
However any technology has its fair share of limitations and scope for
innovation. Currently membrane separations is a hot topic for research in
order to improve its performance, find a solution to the existing problems
and also make it economically feasible for large scale applications. This
problem aims to bring into picture the current advances in the field of
membrane technology for wastewater treatment. Participants should look
out for the following issues which crop up in the use of membranes and
find out relevant new solutions to eradicate the same.
Membrane Fouling: The biggest technical challenge with the use

of membranes for wastewater treatment is the high potential for

fouling.

Fouling results from complex phenomena linked to the

deposition of components at the surface and inside the pores of the

membrane. Membrane fouling forces to increase the feed pressure
and frequent membrane cleaning. This leads to reduced efficiency
and a shorter membrane life.
Enabling

higher

flux:

An

important

parameter

to

gauge

membrane performance is the flux through the membrane - the

amount of water passing through the membrane per unit of time
and surface area. This has a strong impact on the capital cost of the
process.
Membrane

chemistry:

In

order

to

improve

the

usage

of

membrane technology to systems or chemicals unexplored yet,

work needs to be done on improving the membrane chemistry and
find out new materials or substitutes.

The contents of the gray colored wastewater from the oil refineries are as
follows:
Oil content: 500 mg/l
COD content: 500 mg/l
Phenol: 50 mg/l
Benzene: 10 mg/l
Heavy metals (Zn, Cr, Cu): 20 mg/l

The discharge standards are:

Oil content < 5 mg/l
COD content < 120 mg/l
Phenol < 0.35 mg/l

Benzene < 0.1 mg/l

Heavy metals (Zn, Cr, Cu) < 0.5 mg/l

Suggest

qualitative

treatment

scheme

which

will

enable

the

wastewater to meet the discharge standards using membrane technology.

You can make use of any pre treatment techniques before using
membrane system only if it enhances the performance of the membrane
on the points mentioned above.

Participants will be judged on the basis of how all or any of these above
different aspects have been covered, whether their suggestions have
been implemented in the industry and cost-to-benefit analysis of the
remedies presented. Advances in the membrane technology apart from
the points mentioned will be appreciated.