Membrane filtration is an emerging technology that is capable of alleviating the global water scarcity. However, the current membranes suffer from the trade-off relationship between selectivity and permeability, as well as membrane fouling. To overcome these drawbacks, carbon nanotube (CNT)-based membranes were prepared as a platform for the integration of membrane filtration with electrochemistry. By applying alternating square-wave bias (between –1 and +1 with pulse width of 60 s) on the CNT-based membrane, the permeate flux was improved by 32% during filtering feed water containing both natural organic matter and bacteria, meanwhile maintained a total organic matter (TOC) removal efficiency of 2.9 times as high as that by membrane filtration alone. These improved filtration performances were ascribed to the synergistic effects of electrochemical degradation, electrostatic repulsion, electrochemical disinfection and electrokinetic behaviors under electrochemical assistance.

Enhanced filtration performance of carbon nanotube-based membrane by electrochemical assistance

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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