The novel nano-MnO2 based fenton-like system is developed to achieve highly efficient membrane cleaning for both fouled PVDF and PES membranes in this study. Compared with conventional chemical cleaning process in which the whole membrane module has to be soaked in highly concentrated solution of chemical reagent for long time, the developed cleaning process which takes only 5 min in 0.5 wt% H2O2 solution can achieve more than 95% recovery of permeate flux and almost total removal of the irreversible foulants. More importantly, the permeate flux and filtration efficiency of the membrane can be kept stable after 6 runs of consecutive fouling and cleaning. The outstanding performance of developed system is attributed to the generation of both free radicals and abundant oxygen simultaneously, leading to the physico-chemical membrane cleaning. In addition, the effects of typical cations (K+ and Ca2+) on membrane fouling and cleaning, as well as the related mechanisms are further investigated systemically. The results demonstrate Ca2+ promotes the formation of reversible fouling, meanwhile higher removal efficiency of foulants can also be achieved with the assistance of filtration cake containing HA+Ca2+. However, K+ leads to the formation of more recalcitrant irreversible fouling. Conclusively, the newly developed nano-MnO2 based Fenton-like system demonstrates noteworthy advantages on efficient membrane cleaning, and exhibits highly potential for the wide application in practical water treatment process.

Novel nano-MnO2 based Fenton-like system for the efficient cleaning of fouled ultrafiltration membrane

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.