Chapter 11 - Water Treatment by Dendrimer-Enhanced Filtration: Principles and Applications

Abstract

This chapter reveals that the pressure-driven membrane processes such as reverse osmosis (RO), nanofiltration (NF), ultrafiltration (UF), and microfiltration (MF) are emerging as key components of water purification systems throughout the world. The bulk of the capital and operating costs of membrane systems is associated with the high pressure needed to remove dissolved contaminants. RO and NF are very effective at removing dissolved ions and organic solutes. However, high pressures are required to operate RO and NF membranes. Conversely, UF and MF membranes require much lower pressure. Unfortunately, they are not effective at retaining dissolved ions and organic solutes. This chapter has developed a dendrimer enhanced filtration (DEF) process that can remove dissolved substances using UF and MF. Dendrimers are highly branched 3D globular nanopolymers with controlled composition and architecture. They have many reactive functional sites and binding pockets per molecule, and their globular shape and large size makes them easier to filter than linear polymers.