Wet spinning of integrally skinned hollow fiber membranes by a modified dual-bath coagulation method using a triple orifice spinneret

Improvement strategies for oil/water separation based on electrospun SiO2 nanofibers

Oil spills and oily effluents from industry and daily life pose a great threat to all organisms in the ecosystem, while aggravating the problem of water scarcity, which has developed into a global challenge. Therefore, the development of advanced materials and technologies for oil/water separation has become a focus of attention. One-dimensional (1D) SiO2 nanofibers (SNFs) have become one of the most widely used inorganic nanomaterials in the past due to their stable chemical properties, excellent biocompatibility, and high temperature resistance etc. Meanwhile, electrospinning technique, as an emerging technology for treating oil/water emulsions, electrospun SNFs on this basis also has a number of advantages such as adjustable wettability, diverse structure and good connectivity. This review provides a systematic overview of the research progress of electrospun SNFs in different aspects. In this review, we first introduce the basic principles of electrospun SNFs, then focus on the design structures of various SNFs, propose corresponding strategies for the property improvement of SNFs, also analyze and consider the applications of SNFs. Finally, the challenges faced by electrospun SNFs in the field of oil/water separation are analyzed, and the future directions of electrospun SNFs are summarized and prospected.

A critical review with emphasis on the rheological behavior and properties of polymer solutions and their role in membrane formation, morphology, and performance

Considering the importance of asymmetric membrane morphology in controlling the performance of various membrane systems as well as the rapid development of membrane technologies in different industries, the control of membrane manufacturing processes and effective parameters is considered an outstanding subject. Therefore, it seems that investigating the rheological properties of polymer solutions, including gelation behavior, viscoelasticity, and their effect on membrane formation, as well as the morphological structure of membranes, such as hollow fiber and flat sheet membranes, is a requirement for the production of asymmetric membranes with desirable properties. One of the most widely used techniques for the preparation of asymmetric membranes is phase separation. Its two main mechanisms are liquid-liquid demixing and solid-liquid demixing, which can affect the morphology of the membranes in the membrane formation process. Therefore, the membrane morphology can be greatly influenced by controlling the phase separation in the early stages. In this study, an attempt has been made to investigate the rheological behavior of polymer solutions and other factors during the membrane fabrication process, affecting the morphological structure of membranes. The principles governing the rheology of polymer solutions, such as shear, elongation, viscosity, and viscoelasticity have a vital role in determining the membrane morphology and separation performance. Due to the interaction of the rheology of polymer solutions and phase separation, the effects of changes in the rheological properties of the phase separation and the formation of membranes with different structures and morphologies are studied. Furthermore, in addition to the analysis of the effect of the relaxation time and gelation mechanisms, discussions are provided for the determination of the final membrane morphology considering the competition between the domain growth and gelation rates. Finally, the effect of controlling the rheological behavior and phase separation on the membrane structure and performance was investigated in several membrane applications.

Advances and Applications of Hollow Fiber Nanofiltration Membranes: A Review

Hollow fiber nanofiltration (NF) membranes have gained increased attention in recent years, partly driven by the availability of alternatives to polyamide-based dense separation layers. Moreover, the global market for NF has been growing steadily in recent years and is expected to grow even faster. Compared to the traditional spiral-wound configuration, the hollow fiber geometry provides advantages such as low fouling tendencies and effective hydraulic cleaning possibilities. The alternatives to polyamide layers are typically chemically more stable and thus allow operation and cleaning at more extreme conditions. Therefore, these new NF membranes are of interest for use in a variety of applications. In this review, we provide an overview of the applications and emerging opportunities for these membranes. Next to municipal wastewater and drinking water processes, we have put special focus on industrial applications where hollow fiber NF membranes are employed under more strenuous conditions or used to recover specific resources or solutes.

Forward Osmosis: A Critical Review

The use of forward osmosis (FO) for water purification purposes has gained extensive attention in recent years. In this review, we first discuss the advantages, challenges and various applications of FO, as well as the challenges in selecting the proper draw solution for FO, after which we focus on transport limitations in FO processes. Despite recent advances in membrane development for FO, there is still room for improvement of its selective layer and support. For many applications spiral wound membrane will not suffice. Furthermore, a defect-free selective layer is a prerequisite for FO membranes to ensure low solute passage, while a support with low internal concentration polarization is necessary for a high water flux. Due to challenges affiliated to interfacial polymerization (IP) on non-planar geometries, we discuss alternative approaches to IP to form the selective layer. We also explain that, when provided with a defect-free selective layer with good rejection, the membrane support has a dominant influence on the performance of an FO membrane, which can be estimated by the structural parameter (S). We emphasize the necessity of finding a new method to determine S, but also that predominantly the thickness of the support is the major parameter that needs to be optimized.

Critical Comparison of Structured Contactors for Adsorption-Based Gas Separations

Recent advances in adsorptive gas separations have focused on the development of porous materials with high operating capacity and selectivity, useful parameters that provide early guidance during the development of new materials. Although this material-focused work is necessary to advance the state of the art in adsorption science and engineering, a substantial problem remains: how to integrate these materials into a fixed bed to efficiently utilize the separation. Structured sorbent contactors can help manage kinetic and engineering factors associated with the separation, including pressure drop, sorption enthalpy effects, and external heat integration (for temperature swing adsorption, or TSA). In this review, we discuss monoliths and fiber sorbents as the two main classes of structured sorbent contactors; recent developments in their manufacture; advantages and disadvantages of each structure relative to each other and to pellet packed beds; recent developments in system modeling; and finally, critical needs in this area of research.

Mitigating the hydraulic compression of nanofiltration hollow fiber membranes through a single-step direct spinning technique

Most nanofiltration (NF) membranes have been made through complicated multistep or thin-film composite processes. They also suffer the compaction issue that reduces permeate flux in pressure-driven filtration processes. A single-step coextrusion hollow fiber fabrication technique via immiscibility induced phase separation (I(2)PS) process is presented in this study to fabricate NF hollow fiber membranes. A protective layer is concurrently formed on top of the selective layer during the phase inversion process. The fabricated hollow fiber membrane has a narrow pore size distribution with a molecular weight cutoff (MWCO) of 470 Da. The outer layer of the I(2)PS hollow fiber is found to serve as a buffering layer that mitigates hydraulic compression on the compaction of dense-selective layer and sublayer and helps to retain membrane performance during nanofiltration operations. The newly fabricated NF hollow fiber membrane exhibits an average pure water permeability of 3.2 L m(-2) h(-1) bar(-1) and shows good rejections toward the testing dyes. This study may offer a simple, direct, and cost-effective approach to fabricate NF hollow fiber membranes.