Abstract
Photocatalytic ceramic membranes have attracted considerable attention for industrial wastewater treatment. However, morphological control of the membrane surface to improve its photocatalytic reactivity for the degradation of organic pollutants remains a challenge. Herein, we report a new nanostructured TiO2/Al2O3 composite ceramic membrane prepared from a poly(oxyethylene methacrylate) (POEM) template through a sol–gel method and its photocatalytic performance in the treatment of a model dye compound. The POEM polymeric template allowed the homogeneous distribution of catalytic sites, i.e., the TiO2 layer, on the Al2O3 membrane surface, resulting in improved organic dye degradation along with effective fouling mitigation. The immobilization of a TiO2 layer on the Al2O3 membrane support also significantly enhanced the membrane adsorption capacity toward dye organic compounds. An organic removal efficiency of over 96% was achieved with the TiO2/Al2O3 composite membrane under Ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. In addition, the self-cleaning efficiency of the TiO2/Al2O3 composite membrane was remarkably improved by the degradation of organic foulants on the membrane under UV illumination.
Highlights
The demand for advanced water treatment technologies is increasing for the treatment of high-strength wastewater, such as industrial wastewater including complex water pollutants.Membrane technology is a promising way to enhance wastewater treatment efficiency as it can produce great effluent quality with a smaller footprint than that afforded by conventional wastewater treatment processes [1,2,3]
The nanostructure morphology of a membrane has a great effect on its photocatalytic performance for wastewater treatment
A poly(oxyethylene methacrylate) (POEM)/the TiO2 precursor (TTIP) hybrid was successfully formed during the sol–gel process
Summary
The demand for advanced water treatment technologies is increasing for the treatment of high-strength wastewater, such as industrial wastewater including complex water pollutants. Membrane technology is a promising way to enhance wastewater treatment efficiency as it can produce great effluent (permeate) quality with a smaller footprint than that afforded by conventional wastewater treatment processes [1,2,3]. There has been an upsurge of interest in ceramic membranes for the treatment of high-strength wastewater, for which polymeric membranes are not suitable [4,5]. Ceramic membranes consisting of metal oxides usually exhibit high membrane porosity, membrane permeability, and narrow distribution of the membrane pore size. These unique properties allow for superior separation characteristics and antifouling behavior than those of polymeric membranes
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