Abstract
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.
Highlights
While nanofiltration (NF) membranes have been available since early 1980 [1] only more recently has the attention to these membranes for water treatment processes started growing increasingly, both in academia and in industry
The selective layer of hollow fiber (HF) NF membranes can be prepared via a variety of methods, that can roughly be divided into five different categories: Directly during phase inversion, polymerization, coating, grafting and self-assembly [28]
The interfacial polymerization (IP) is performed on top of a porous support, which results in a thin-film composite (TFC) NF membrane
Summary
While nanofiltration (NF) membranes have been available since early 1980 [1] only more recently has the attention to these membranes for water treatment processes started growing increasingly, both in academia and in industry. Where RO membranes can retain even the smallest solute to desalinate seawater, UF membranes allow for efficient removal of bacteria, viruses, and total suspended solids (TSS) and NF membranes enable the selective removal of specific solutes or the purification of water at lower energy consumption [1,2]. This semi-permeability of NF hits the sweet spot within the filtration spectrum for many emerging processes. Lies in the aforementioned new industrial applications (see Figure 1)
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