Introduction and Basic Principle of Nanofiltration Membrane Process

Abstract

One of the demanding challenges of the twenty-first century is to improve the decontamination of the water by sustainable and economically adaptable technologies. Traditional water treatment technologies, though efficient, give rise to several problems and not adaptable that obstructs the development processes. The application of membrane technology in wastewater treatment has been gaining great interest and has shown potential results for the elimination of toxic pollutants. Nanofiltration (NF) in membrane technologies is relatively recent development and is explored due to stringent water quality standards. NF has outplaced reverse osmosis in most of the applications due to high flux rates with better pollutant rejection. This chapter incurs to address the principles and concepts of NF membrane technology for water treatment including fundamental mechanism and fouling in the process. Besides, a general outline was made on the different membrane fouling types and mitigation strategies in NF process and future perspectives.