3D nano-structured sepiolite dynamic membranes for enhanced ultrafiltration treatment and membrane fouling mitigation

The construction of replaceable dynamic membranes (DMs) on membrane surfaces is a promising strategy to effectively mitigate membrane fouling. Nevertheless, the efficiency of DMs in mitigating membrane fouling remains low due to the lack of microstructural configurations. Herein, we report a natural sepiolite (SEP) DM with a three-dimensional (3D) network structure for mitigating PES ultrafiltration (UF) membrane fouling. The abundant oxygen-containing groups on the surface of SEP nanofibers endowed SEP DM with good organic adsorption capacity, hindering the migration of contaminants such as humic acid (HA) and bovine serum albumin (BSA). Owing to the porous 3D network structure, SEP DM prevented the formation of a dense filter cake layer, which effectively mitigated the sharp rise in membrane resistance when filtering ideal HA and BSA solutions. For the actual secondary wastewater, SEP DM improved the removal of UV254 and DOC by 29.8% and 22.5%, respectively, over the pristine PES membrane. The decrease in membrane-specific flux was mitigated by about 20%. Notably, the dynamic nature of SEP DM allowed the contaminated DM layer to be replaced by hydraulic cleaning, resulting in 99% flux recovery (only 89% for the pristine PES membrane). These findings are beneficial in providing new ideas for the mitigation and control of UF membranes.

Automated summary

A natural sepiolite dynamic membrane with a three-dimensional network structure was developed to mitigate fouling in PES ultrafiltration membranes. The dynamic membrane exhibited good organic adsorption capacity and prevented the rise in membrane resistance, leading to improved wastewater treatment efficiency. The contaminated layer of the dynamic membrane could be replaced by hydraulic cleaning, resulting in flux recovery.