Polymerisable nanostructured coated membranes for potential use in wastewater treatment

Many routes, different from the classical phase inversion methods, have been recently investigated for producing porous polymeric membranes. In this work, the production of highly hydrophilic and antimicrobial flat membranes using polymerisable bicontinuous microemulsion (PBM) for water treatment has been reported. In particular, polymerisable bicontinuous microemulsion have been employed as coating material of commercial membranes. PBM coated membrane have been successfully used for water purification in Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) applications [1]. In bicontinuous microemulsion the surfactant is located at the interface between the oil and the water microdomains forming a network of interconnected water and oil channels. The oil channels can be polymerized to form the matrix of liquid membranes, while the aqueous phase remains unchanged. For this reason, the microemulsions may be used for all purposes as membranes. Their tendency to organize themselves into stable structures, depending on the initial ratio, oil / water / surfactant, allows the adjustment and the control of membrane morphology, size and pore distribution, in the range of nanometers. By varying the ratio of the components constituting the microemulsion (water, oil surfactant and cosurfactant) it was possible to control membrane morphology as, for example, size and pore distribution, and tailor its properties (i,e. contact angle). Then, the performance of the produced membranes has been evaluated in terms of water permeability and rejection of organic compounds and dyes that can be encountered in textile wastewater. Nowadays textile industries are one of the main responsible of water usage and pollutants production related to the manufacturing processes. These pollutants are generally represented by salts, organic compounds; the main components of the dyes, heavy metals and suspended solids. The MBR experiment with PBM coated membranes carried out for 6 months indicates the higher durability and higher process performance of the membrane. The high quality permeate (containing less COD and less dye) was produced by PBM coated membrane compared to the commercial membrane and it will be reported in this work. Reference A. Figoli, J. Joinkis, B. Gabriele, G. De Luca, F. Galiano, A. S. Deowan, Bicontinuous microemulsion polymerized coating for water treatment, Patent Application N. GE2013A000096, filed on 27/09/2013