Membrane fouling and poor separation of small molecules are always the important issue that limits ultrafiltration (UF) membrane technology. The current membrane modification and pretreatment methods are difficult to solve these problems at the same time. This study focuses on electrochemical filtration coupling with advanced oxidation process. The membrane loaded with cross-linked polypyrrole and carbon nanotubes (CNT-PPy/PVDF) was used as the cathode to activate the persulfate (PDS) to generate reactive oxidative species (ROS), which could effectively degrade carbamazepine (CBZ) and significantly mitigate bovine serum albumin (BSA) fouling. The results showed that the removal ratio of CBZ reached 96% over 30 min. After operating the system for 20 times, the removal ratio could still maintained at 90%. The repeatability test and FT-IR analysis proved the external current could effectively protect the membrane cathode material from being oxidized and prolong the membrane life. The E-PDS system could improve the removal ratio of BSA and the flux recovery ratio compared with PVDF system alone. Mitigated fouling phenomena was also observed, which could be associated with an enhanced repulsion for membrane-BSA and BSA-BSA in the E-PDS filtration system, according to the extended Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (XDLVO) theory, leading to less foulant deposit and loose fouling layer on the membrane surface. The TEM and particle size results show that part of BSA was oxidized by ROS and agglomerate, which lead to a significant increase of the hydraulic radius of the BSA after the treatment. Therefore, the new type of E-PDS membrane filtration system will have a good application prospect in water treatment filed for removing of small molecule organic and mitigating membrane fouling.

Evaluation of electro-activated persulfate process for the removal efficiency of emerging contaminants and anti-fouling performance for carbon nanotube-based membrane

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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