Statistical Simulation, a Tool for the Process Optimization of Oily Wastewater by Crossflow Ultrafiltration

Research on Membranes and Their Associated Processes at the Université Paris-Est Créteil: Progress Report, Perspectives, and National and International Collaborations

Research on membranes and their associated processes was initiated in 1970 at the University of Paris XII/IUT de Créteil, which became in 2010 the University Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC). This research initially focused on the development and applications of pervaporation membranes, then concerned the metrology of ion-exchange membranes, then expanded to dialysis processes using these membranes, and recently opened to composite membranes and their applications in production or purification processes. Both experimental and fundamental aspects have been developed in parallel. This evolution has been reinforced by an opening to the French and European industries, and to the international scene, especially to the Krasnodar Membrane Institute (Kuban State University-Russia) and to the Department of Chemistry, (Qassim University-Saudi Arabia). Here, we first presented the history of this research activity, then developed the main research axes carried out at UPEC over the 2012-2022 period; then, we gave the main results obtained, and finally, showed the cross contribution of the developed collaborations. We avoided a chronological presentation of these activities and grouped them by theme: composite membranes and ion-exchange membranes. For composite membranes, we have detailed three applications: highly selective lithium-ion extraction, bleach production, and water and industrial effluent treatments. For ion-exchange membranes, we focused on their characterization methods, their use in Neutralization Dialysis for brackish water demineralization, and their fouling and antifouling processes. It appears that the research activities on membranes within UPEC are very dynamic and fruitful, and benefit from scientific exchanges with our Russian partners, which contributed to the development of strong membrane activity on water treatment within Qassim University. Finally, four main perspectives of this research activity were given: the design of autonomous and energy self-sufficient processes, refinement of characterization by Electrochemical Scanning Microscopy, functional membrane separators, and green membrane preparation and use.

High-Frequency Pulsatile Parameterization Study for the Titania Ceramic Membrane Fouling Mitigation in Oily Wastewater Systems Using the Box-Behnken Response Surface Methodology

In this comprehensive study, a seven-channel ultrafiltration (UF) titania membrane was used to investigate the impact of the pulsatile cleaning process on the crossflow filtration system. Seventeen experimental runs were performed for different operating conditions with a transmembrane pressure (TMP) varying from 0.5 to 1.5 bar, a crossflow velocity (CFV) ranging from 0.5 to 1 m/s, and pulsatile parameters within an interval varying from 60 to 120 s with a duration of 0.8 s, and collecting membrane permeate flux and volume data. The optimized operating conditions revealed that a TMP of 1.5 bar, a CFV of 0.71 m/s, and a pulsatile cycle of 85 s were the best operating conditions to reach the highest steady permeability flux and volume of 302 LMH and 8.11 L, respectively. The UF ceramic membrane under the optimized inputs allowed for an oil-rejection ability of 99%. The Box-Behnken design (BBD) model was used to analyze the effect of crossflow operating conditions on the permeate flux and volume. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated that the quadratic regression models were highly significant. At a 95% confidence interval, the optimum TMP significantly enhanced the flux and permeate volume simultaneously. The results also demonstrated a positive interaction between the TMP and the pulsatile process, enhancing the permeate flux with a slight impact on the permeate volume. At the same time, the interaction between the CFV and pulsatile flow improved the permeability and increased the permeate volume.

Xylem-Inspired Hydrous Manganese Dioxide/Aluminum Oxide/Polyethersulfone Mixed Matrix Membrane for Oily Wastewater Treatment

Ultrafiltration membrane has been widely used for oily wastewater treatment application attributed to its cost-efficiency, ease of operation, and high separation performance. To achieve high membrane flux, the pores of the membrane need to be wetted, which can be attained by using hydrophilic membrane. Nevertheless, conventional hydrophilic membrane suffered from inhomogeneous dispersion of nanofillers, causing a bottleneck in the membrane flux performance. This called for the need to enhance the dispersion of nanofillers within the polymeric matrix. In this work, in-house-fabricated hydrous manganese dioxide-aluminum oxide (HMO-Al₂O₃) was added into polyethersulfone (PES) dope solution to enhance the membrane flux through a xylem-inspired water transport mechanism on capillary action aided by cohesion force. Binary fillers HMO-Al₂O₃ loading was optimized at 0.5:0.5 in achieving 169 nm membrane mean pore size. Membrane morphology confirmed the formation of macro-void in membrane structure, and this was probably caused by the hydrophilic nanofiller interfacial stress released in PES matrix during the phase inversion process. The superhydrophilic properties of PES 3 in achieving 0° water contact angle was supported by the energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, where it achieved high O element, Mn element, and Al elements of 39.68%, 0.94%, and 5.35%, respectively, indicating that the nanofillers were more homogeneously dispersed in PES matrix. The superhydrophilic property of PES 3 was further supported by high pure water flux at 245.95 L/m².h.bar, which was 3428.70% higher than the pristine PES membrane, 197.1% higher than PES 1 incorporated with HMO nanofiller, and 854.00% higher than PES 5 incorporated with Al₂O₃ nanofillers. Moreover, the excellent membrane separation performance of PES 3 was achieved without compromising the oil rejection capability (98.27% rejection) with 12 g/L (12,000 ppm) oily wastewater.

Treatment of Tuna Cooking Juice via Ceramic Ultrafiltration Membrane: Optimization Using Response Surface Methodology

In the present work, optimized ultrafiltration conditions, using a ceramic multi tubular titania membrane (150 KDa), were investigated for the treatment of tuna cooking juice, for water reuse in the industrial process. The interactive effects of the volume concentrating factor (VCF) (1.03-4.25), feed temperature (T) (20-60 °C), and applied transmembrane pressure (ΔP) (2-5 bar) on protein removal (R protein) and permeate flux (J) were determined. A Box-Behnken experimental design (BBD) with the response surface methodology (RSM) was used for statistical analysis, modeling, and optimization of the operating conditions. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) results proved that the protein removal and permeate flux were significant and represented good correlation coefficients of 0.9859 and 0.9294, respectively. Mathematical modeling showed that the best conditions were VCF = 1.5 and a feed temperature of 60 °C, under a transmembrane pressure of 5 bar. The fouling mechanism was checked by applying a polarization concentration model. Determination of the gel concentration confirmed the results found in the mass balance calculation and proved that the VCF must not exceed 1.5. The membrane regeneration efficiency was proven by determining the water permeability after the chemical cleaning process.