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Gugliuzza A, Boi C. Editorial for the Special Issue "Preparation and Application of Advanced Functional Membranes". MEMBRANES 2024; 14:100. [PMID: 38786935 PMCID: PMC11122922 DOI: 10.3390/membranes14050100] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2024] [Revised: 04/09/2024] [Accepted: 04/18/2024] [Indexed: 05/25/2024]
Abstract
Membrane science is a discipline that cuts across almost all fields of research and experimentation [...].
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Affiliation(s)
- Annarosa Gugliuzza
- Institute on Membrane Technology-National Research Council, CNR-ITM, Via Pietro Bucci 17C, 87036 Rende, Italy
| | - Cristiana Boi
- Department of Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering, Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Via Terracini 28, 40131 Bologna, Italy
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7905, USA
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Di Luca G, Chen G, Jin W, Gugliuzza A. Aliquots of MIL-140 and Graphene in Smart PNIPAM Mixed Hydrogels: A Nanoenvironment for a More Eco-Friendly Treatment of NaCl and Humic Acid Mixtures by Membrane Distillation. MEMBRANES 2023; 13:437. [PMID: 37103864 PMCID: PMC10142398 DOI: 10.3390/membranes13040437] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2023] [Accepted: 04/13/2023] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
The problem of water scarcity is already serious and risks becoming dramatic in terms of human health as well as environmental safety. Recovery of freshwater by means of eco-friendly technologies is an urgent matter. Membrane distillation (MD) is an accredited green operation for water purification, but a viable and sustainable solution to the problem needs to be concerned with every step of the process, including managed amounts of materials, membrane fabrication procedures, and cleaning practices. Once it is established that MD technology is sustainable, a good strategy would also be concerned with the choice of managing low amounts of functional materials for membrane manufacturing. These materials are to be rearranged in interfaces so as to generate nanoenvironments wherein local events, conceived to be crucial for the success and sustainability of the separation, can take place without endangering the ecosystem. In this work, discrete and random supramolecular complexes based on smart poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) (PNIPAM) mixed hydrogels with aliquots of ZrO(O2C-C10H6-CO2) (MIL-140) and graphene have been produced on a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) sublayer and have been proven to enhance the performance of PVDF membranes for MD operations. Two-dimensional materials have been adhered to the membrane surface through combined wet solvent (WS) and layer-by-layer (LbL) spray deposition without requiring further subnanometer-scale size adjustment. The creation of a dual responsive nanoenvironment has enabled the cooperative events needed for water purification. According to the MD's rules, a permanent hydrophobic state of the hydrogels together with a great ability of 2D materials to assist water vapor diffusion through the membranes has been targeted. The chance to switch the density of charge at the membrane-aqueous solution interface has further allowed for the choice of greener and more efficient self-cleaning procedures with a full recovery of the permeation properties of the engineered membranes. The experimental evidence of this work confirms the suitability of the proposed approach to obtain distinct effects on a future production of reusable water from hypersaline streams under somewhat soft working conditions and in full respect to environmental sustainability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giuseppe Di Luca
- Institute on Membrane Technology, National Research Council (CNR-ITM), Via Pietro Bucci 17C, 87036 Rende, Italy;
| | - Guining Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, 30 Puzhu Road, Nanjing 211816, China; (G.C.); (W.J.)
| | - Wanqin Jin
- State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, 30 Puzhu Road, Nanjing 211816, China; (G.C.); (W.J.)
| | - Annarosa Gugliuzza
- Institute on Membrane Technology, National Research Council (CNR-ITM), Via Pietro Bucci 17C, 87036 Rende, Italy;
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New Materials and Phenomena in Membrane Distillation. CHEMISTRY 2023. [DOI: 10.3390/chemistry5010006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
In recent decades, membrane-based processes have been extensively applied to a wide range of industrial processes, including gas separation, food industry, drug purification, and wastewater treatment. Membrane distillation is a thermally driven separation process, in which only vapour molecules transfer through a microporous hydrophobic membrane. At the operational level, the performance of membrane distillation is negatively affected by wetting and temperature polarization phenomena. In order to overcome these issues, advanced membranes have been developed in recent years. This review, which focuses specifically on membrane distillation presents the basic concepts associated with the mass and heat transfer through hydrophobic membranes, membrane properties, and advances in membrane materials. Photothermal materials for solar-driven membrane distillation applications are also presented and discussed.
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Dong Y, Tan Y, Wang K, Cai Y, Li J, Sonne C, Li C. Reviewing wood-based solar-driven interfacial evaporators for desalination. WATER RESEARCH 2022; 223:119011. [PMID: 36037711 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2022.119011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2022] [Revised: 07/26/2022] [Accepted: 08/21/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Solar‒driven interfacial water evaporation is a convenient and efficient strategy for harvesting solar energy and desalinating seawater. However, the design and fabrication of solar evaporators still challenge reliable evaporation and practical applications. Wood-based solar-driven interfacial water evaporation emerge as a promising and environmentally friendly approach for water desalinating as it provides renewable and porous structures. In recent years, surface modifications and innovative structural designs to prepare high performance wood-based evaporators is widely explored. In this review, we firstly describe the superiority of wood for the fabrication of wood-based solar evaporators, including the pore structure, chemical structure and thermal insulation. Secondly, we summarize the recent developments in wood-based evaporators from surface carbonization, decoration with photothermal materials, bulk modification and structural design, and discuss from the aspects of water transportation capacity, thermal conductivity and photothermal efficiency. Finally, based on these previous results and analysis, we highlight the remaining challenges and potential future directions, including the selection of high-efficient photothermal materials, heat and mass transfer mechanism in wood-based evaporators including large-scale production at a low cost.
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Affiliation(s)
- Youming Dong
- Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
| | - Yi Tan
- MOE Key Laboratory of Wooden Material Science and Application, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Kaili Wang
- Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
| | - Yahui Cai
- Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
| | - Jianzhang Li
- Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China; MOE Key Laboratory of Wooden Material Science and Application, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Christian Sonne
- College of Forestry, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China; Department of Ecoscience, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgvej 399, Roskilde DK-4000, Denmark.
| | - Cheng Li
- Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China; College of Forestry, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China.
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Gontarek-Castro E, Di Luca G, Lieder M, Gugliuzza A. Graphene-Coated PVDF Membranes: Effects of Multi-Scale Rough Structure on Membrane Distillation Performance. MEMBRANES 2022; 12:511. [PMID: 35629837 PMCID: PMC9147767 DOI: 10.3390/membranes12050511] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2022] [Revised: 05/06/2022] [Accepted: 05/07/2022] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
Graphene-coated membranes for membrane distillation have been fabricated by using a wet-filtration approach. Graphene nanoplatelets have been deposited onto PVDF membrane surfaces. Morphology and physicochemical properties have been explored to evaluate the changes in the surface topography and related effects on the membrane performance in water desalination. The membranes have been tested in membrane distillation plants by using mixtures of sodium chloride and humic acid. The multi-scale rough structure of the surface has been envisaged to amplify the wetting and fouling resistance of the graphene-coated membranes so that a better flux and full salt rejection have been achieved in comparison with pristine PVDF. Total salt rejection and an increase of 77% in flux have been observed for coated membrane with optimized graphene content when worked with NaCl 0.6 M (DCMD, ΔT ≈ 24 °C) over a test period of 6 h. The experimental findings suggest these novel graphene-coated membranes as promising materials to develop functional membranes for high-performing water desalination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emilia Gontarek-Castro
- Department of Process Engineering and Chemical Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, Gdansk University of Technology, 11/12 G. Narutowicza St., 80-233 Gdansk, Poland;
| | - Giuseppe Di Luca
- Research Institute on Membrane Technology, CNR-ITM, Via Pietro Bucci 17/C, 87036 Rende, Italy;
| | - Marek Lieder
- Department of Process Engineering and Chemical Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, Gdansk University of Technology, 11/12 G. Narutowicza St., 80-233 Gdansk, Poland;
| | - Annarosa Gugliuzza
- Research Institute on Membrane Technology, CNR-ITM, Via Pietro Bucci 17/C, 87036 Rende, Italy;
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Wang W, Pan Q, Xing Z, Liu X, Dai Y, Wang R, Ge T. Viability of a practical multicyclic sorption-based water harvester with improved water yield. WATER RESEARCH 2022; 211:118029. [PMID: 35030362 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2021.118029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2021] [Revised: 12/28/2021] [Accepted: 12/29/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting (SAWH) has emerged as an attractive way to relieve water scarcity. However, the daily water yield of currently reported SAWH devices remains low to satisfy the rising demand for drinking water. The sorption and desorption kinetics, long-term stability and especially facile scaling-fabrication of adsorbents and scaled-up device implementation have become the bottleneck to such large-scale SAWH application. To overcome these challenges, an air-cooled SAWH device was fabricated to investigate its atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) performance under real island climate and its feasibility of multicyclic operation. Under monocyclic operation, the device demonstrated the superior water productivity as much as 3.9 kg day-1, or 0.39 kgwater kgadsorbent-1 day-1, at 31 °C and 70% RH, with a thermal efficiency of 25.4% (desorption at 94 °C). The SAWH device demonstrated successful water production through 2 adsorption-desorption cycles within one day, with increased thermal efficiency to as high as 32.2% and increased water harvesting performance up to 0.42 kgwater kgadsorbent-1 day-1 by 20-90%. This is the first demonstration in multicyclic SAWH at large scales, holding the promise of large-scale and practical water supply in island areas while opening up new applications such as indoor dehumidification.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenwen Wang
- Institute of Refrigeration and Cryogenic, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
| | - Quanwen Pan
- Cryogenic Center, Zhejiang University City College, Hangzhou 310015, China
| | - Zheli Xing
- Cryogenic Center, Zhejiang University City College, Hangzhou 310015, China
| | - Xueying Liu
- National Defense Engineering Institute, Academy of Military Science of PLA, Beijing 100036, China
| | - Yanjun Dai
- Institute of Refrigeration and Cryogenic, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
| | - Ruzhu Wang
- Institute of Refrigeration and Cryogenic, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
| | - Tianshu Ge
- Institute of Refrigeration and Cryogenic, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
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Zhou J, Gu Q, Liu F, Feng S, Zhong Z, Xing W. Low-temperature sintering of silicon carbide membrane supports from disks to single- and 19-channel tubes. Ann Ital Chir 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2022.01.051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
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