A novel membrane reactor for ozone water treatment

Abstract

A novel membrane reactor was designed for the ozonolysis of refractory organic pollutants in water. The reactor employed a membrane contactor and a membrane separator in a concentric arrangement to affect a uniform ozone distribution along the reactor length, while allowing the simultaneous membrane separation and production of clean water. An alumina capillary membrane contactor and a ZSM-5 zeolite pervaporation membrane were used in this study. Using potassium hydrogen phthalate as model pollutant, the performance of the novel membrane reactor was tested and compared to ozone reaction carried out using the capillary membrane contactor and membrane pervaporation using the ZSM-5 membrane. The novel membrane reactor consistently outperformed both membrane processes. Forty-seven percent higher TOC degradation was observed compared to ozone reaction using a capillary membrane contactor. This enhancement is due to the increase in the organic pollutant concentration in the reaction zone as a result of water withdrawal by membrane pervaporation. As in the case of membrane pervaporation, clean water was produced at the permeate outlet of the novel membrane reactor. Clean water with less than 0.5 ± 0.1 ppm was collected from the membrane permeate outlet at a rate of 11–15 kg −1 h −1 m −2.