Nanocomposite polymeric membrane a new trend of water and wastewater treatment: A short review

Abstract

In recent years, the occurrence of several unwanted compounds from industrial processes as well as domestic activities is increasing the concentration of different pollutants in effluents which is becoming a serious threat to our environment. Among various conventional technologies of water treatment, membrane separation process has shown promising results against treatment or recovery of various contaminants. Several pieces of literature show that mainly polymeric membranes are more promising for water and wastewater treatment. However, there are some limitations still prevailed in this type of treatment process such as fouling, microbial growth, flux reduction, poor mechanical and thermal stability, lower lifetime etc. Hence, the nanocomposite membrane has introduced to eradicate those limitations and enhance the performance as well as the effectiveness of the membrane. The composite membranes using a different type of nanoparticle i.e. TiO2, silver, Al2O3, Pd, SiO2, Ce, Fe2O3, etc. have been incorporated in the recent past in the field of membrane science. The present article represents an in-depth review on surface modification of membrane with nanoparticles, its performance improvement, characterization, and its possible applications in different fields of water as well as wastewater treatment.