Abstract
Drinking water production utilities rely on, among other processes, different filtration technologies like bank filtration and slow sand filters, as well as pressure, roughing, or rapid gravity filters that, together with low- and high-pressure operating membranes, help to ensure high quality drinking water for millions of customers all over the world. The global market of membrane separation technologies is projected to reach USD 11.95 Billion by 2021, encompassing water treatment, wastewater treatment, food and beverage processing, industrial gas processing, and pharmaceutical and biomedical applications. In addition to the current, polymer-based membrane separation technologies, new promising strategies using embedded functional motifs, water and ion channels, are expected to play a key role in the next generation of membranes for separation purposes, which are of paramount relevance for drinking water production utilities. In this review, we summarize the different strategies for developing new advanced membranes with a wide variety of functional motifs, like biological and artificial water and ion channels, and their possible impact on drinking water applications.
Highlights
Safe and accessible drinking water remains an issue of major concern throughout the world.According to the WHO fact-sheet, 89% of the world’s population used an improved drinking-water source at the end of 2011
An estimated 768 million people did not use an improved source for drinking water, while 185 million people relied on surface water to meet their daily drinking-water needs
Different issues associated with practical membrane feasibility, steps towards commercialization, policy and regulations, and other relevant issues for industry will be highlighted. Most of these membranes are in a low TRL level (Technology Readiness Level), and cannot be compared with current commercial membranes. Whether these new emerging functional membranes with wateror ion-channels will reach the market will depend on many factors, and the aim of this review is to describe the present situation, as well as to highlight some development challenges on the path to commercialization
Summary
Safe and accessible drinking water remains an issue of major concern throughout the world. It is foreseen that new, advanced membrane technologies will play a dominant role in the future of production capabilities, management, and operation of drinking-water and waste-water utilities These technologies will have a further significant impact on different separation duties in a wide range of industries, including among others, beverage, health care, food processing, and microchip fabrication. Most of these membranes are in a low TRL level (Technology Readiness Level), and cannot be compared with current commercial membranes Whether these new emerging functional membranes with wateror ion-channels will reach the market will depend on many factors, and the aim of this review is to describe the present situation, as well as to highlight some development challenges on the path to commercialization
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