Optimization of operational parameters using RSM, ANN, and SVM in membrane integrated with rotating biological contactor.

Membrane fouling is a critical bottleneck to the widespread adoption of membrane separation processes. It diminishes the membrane permeability and results in high operational energy costs. The current study presents optimizing the operating parameters of a novel rotating biological contactor (RBC) integrated with an external membrane (RBC + ME) that combines membrane technology with an RBC. In the RBC + ME, the membrane panel is placed external to the bioreactor. Response surface methodology (RSM) is applied to optimize the membrane permeability through three operating parameters (hydraulic retention time (HRT), rotational disk speed, and sludge retention time (SRT)). The artificial neural networks (ANN) and support vector machine (SVM) are implemented to depict the statistical modelling approach using experimental data sets. The results showed that all three operating parameters contribute significantly to the performance of the bioreactor. RSM revealed an optimum value of 40.7 rpm disk rotational speed, 18 h HRT and 12.4 d SRT, respectively. An ANN model with ten hidden layers provides the highest R2 value, while the SVM model with the Bayesian optimizer provides the highest R2. RSM, ANN, and SVM models reveal the highest R-square values of 0.97, 0.99, and 0.99, respectively. Machine learning techniques help predict the model based on the experimental results and training data sets.

Nylon 6,6 Waste Nanofiber Membrane for Produced Water Filtration: Experimental, Performance Modelling, Optimization and Techno-Economic Analysis.

Produced water (PW) is a by-product of oil and gas extraction, of which it is deemed as the primary contributor of wastewater stream in oil production. Conventional treatment such as membrane separation is favoured due to its sustainability and cost effectiveness. On the other hand, oceanic litters such as abandoned fishing nets endangered the marine life ecosystem, despite of its potential to be raw material for fabrication of nanofiber membrane (NFM). This study explores the potential usage of electrospun nylon 6,6 waste NFM for treatment of real PW. In terms of modelling, it is found that feed concentration is the dominant factor with R2 of 0.94 for permeate concentration response and 0.91 for average flux response. Moreover, the optimized system with average flux of 216.5 L/m2h with low specific power consumption of ca. 0.09 kWh/m3 is proven to be economically feasible with less than 5% error from predicted model. As for technoeconomic analysis, it is found that permeate flux plays the major role in controlling total capital cost (CAPEX) and operating cost (OPEX) of the system. The lowest total CAPEX and OPEX to achieve 10 ppm of permeate concentration, also was found to be RM 3.7 M and RM/year 1660, hence proving the economic feasibility of the proposed system.

The Combined Effects of the Membrane and Flow Channel Development on the Performance and Energy Footprint of Oil/Water Emulsion Filtration.

Membrane filtration is a promising technology for oil/water emulsion filtration due to its excellent removal efficiency of microdroplets of oil in water. However, its performance is highly limited due to the fouling-prone nature of oil droplets on hydrophobic membranes. Membrane filtration typically suffers from a low flux and high pumping energy. This study reports a combined approach to tackling the membrane fouling challenge in oil/water emulsion filtration via a membrane and a flow channel development. Two polysulfone (PSF)-based lab-made membranes, namely PSF- PSF-Nonsolvent induced phase separation (NIPS) and PSF-Vapor-induced phase separation (VIPS), were selected, and the flow channel was modified into a wavy path. They were assessed for the filtration of a synthetic oil/water emulsion. The results showed that the combined membrane and flow channel developments enhanced the clean water permeability with a combined increment of 105%, of which 34% was attributed to the increased effective filtration area due to the wavy flow channel. When evaluated for the filtration of an oil/water emulsion, a 355% permeability increment was achieved from 43 for the PSF-NIPS in the straight flow channel to 198 L m-2 h-1 bar-1 for the PSF-VIPS in the wavy flow channel. This remarkable performance increment was achieved thanks to the antifouling attribute of the developed membrane and enhanced local mixing by the wavy flow channel to limit the membrane fouling. The increase in the filtration performance was translated into up to 78.4% (0.00133 vs. 0.00615 kWh m-3) lower in pumping energy. The overall findings demonstrate a significant improvement by adopting multi-pronged approaches in tackling the challenge of membrane fouling for oil/water emulsion filtration, suggesting the potential of this approach to be applied for other feeds.

Altering substrate properties of thin film nanocomposite membrane by Al2O3 nanoparticles for engineered osmosis process.

The scarcity of energy and water resources is a major challenge for humanity in the twenty-first century. Engineered osmosis (EO) technologies are extensively researched as a means of producing sustainable water and energy. This study focuses on the modification of substrate properties of thin film nanocomposite (TFN) membrane using aluminium oxide (Al2O3) nanoparticles and further evaluates the performance of resultant membranes for EO process. Different Al2O3 loading ranging from zero to 0.10 wt% was incorporated into the substrate and the results showed that the hydrophilicity of substrate was increased with contact angle reduced from 74.81° to 66.17° upon the Al2O3 incorporation. Furthermore, the addition of Al2O3 resulted in the formation of larger porous structure on the bottom part of substrate which reduced water transport resistance. Using the substrate modified by 0.02 wt% Al2O3, we could produce the TFN membrane that exhibited the highest water permeability (1.32 L/m2.h.bar, DI water as a feed solution at 15 bar), decent salt rejection (96.89%), low structural parameter (532.44 µm) and relatively good pressure withstandability (>25 bar).

SVM and ANN Modelling Approach for the Optimization of Membrane Permeability of a Membrane Rotating Biological Contactor for Wastewater Treatment.

Membrane fouling significantly hinders the widespread application of membrane technology. In the current study, a support vector machine (SVM) and artificial neural networks (ANN) modelling approach was adopted to optimize the membrane permeability in a novel membrane rotating biological contactor (MRBC). The MRBC utilizes the disk rotation mechanism to generate a shear rate at the membrane surface to scour off the foulants. The effect of operational parameters (disk rotational speed, hydraulic retention time (HRT), and sludge retention time (SRT)) was studied on the membrane permeability. ANN and SVM are machine learning algorithms that aim to predict the model based on the trained data sets. The implementation and efficacy of machine learning and statistical approaches have been demonstrated through real-time experimental results. Feed-forward ANN with the back-propagation algorithm and SVN regression models for various kernel functions were trained to augment the membrane permeability. An overall comparison of predictive models for the test data sets reveals the model's significance. ANN modelling with 13 hidden layers gives the highest R2 value of >0.99, and the SVM model with the Bayesian optimizer approach results in R2 values higher than 0.99. The MRBC is a promising substitute for traditional suspended growth processes, which aligns with the stipulations of ecological evolution and environmentally friendly treatment.

A Rotary Spacer System for Energy-Efficient Membrane Fouling Control in Oil/Water Emulsion Filtration.

Membrane fouling deteriorates membrane filtration performances. Hence, mitigating membrane fouling is the key factor in sustaining the membrane process, particularly when treating fouling-prone feed, such as oil/water emulsions. The use of spacers has been expanded in the membrane module system, including for membrane fouling control. This study proposed a rotating spacer system to ameliorate membrane fouling issues when treating an oil/water emulsion. The system's effectiveness was assessed by investigating the effect of rotating speed and membrane-to-disk gap on the hydraulic performance and the energy input and through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation. The results showed that the newly developed rotary spacer system was effective and energy-efficient for fouling control. The CFD simulation results proved that the spacer rotations induced secondary flow near the membrane surface and imposed shear rate and lift force to exert fouling control. Increasing the rotation speed to an average linear velocity of 0.44 m/s increased the permeability from 126.8 ± 2.1 to 175.5 ± 2.7 Lm-2h-1bar-1. The system showed better performance at a lower spacer-to-membrane gap, in which increasing the gap from 0.5 to 2.0 cm lowered the permeability from 175.5 ± 2.7 to 126.7 ± 2.0 Lm-2h-1bar-1. Interestingly, the rotary system showed a low energy input of 1.08 to 4.08 × 10-3 kWhm-3 permeate when run at linear velocities of 0.27 to 0.44 ms-1. Overall, the findings suggest the competitiveness of the rotary spacer system as a method for membrane fouling control.

Controlling Air Bubble Formation Using Hydrophilic Microfiltration Diffuser for C. vulgaris Cultivation.

In this project, a commercial polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane was coated with a thin layer of polyether block amide (PEBAX) via vacuum filtration to improve hydrophilicity and to study the bubble formation. Two parameters, namely PEBAX concentration (of 0-1.5 wt%) and air flow rate (of 0.1-50 mL/s), were varied and their effects on the bubble size formation were investigated. The results show that the PEBAX coating reduced the minimum membrane pore size from 0.46 µm without coating (hereafter called PEBAX0) to 0.25 µm for the membrane coated with 1.5wt% of PEBAX (hereafter called PEBAX1.5). The presence of polar functional groups (N-H and C=O) in PEBAX greatly improved the membrane hydrophilicity from 118° for PEBAX0 to 43.66° for PEBAX1.5. At an air flow rate of 43 mL/s, the equivalent bubble diameter size decreased from 2.71 ± 0.14 cm for PEBAX0 to 1.51 ± 0.02 cm for PEBAX1.5. At the same air flow rate, the frequency of bubble formation increased six times while the effective gas-liquid contact area increased from 47.96 cm2/s to 85.6 cm2/s. The improved growth of C. vulgaris from 0.6 g/L to 1.3 g/L for PEBAX1.5 also shows the potential of the PEBAX surface coating porous membrane as an air sparger.

Response Surface Methodology for Optimization of Rotating Biological Contactor Combined with External Membrane Filtration for Wastewater Treatment.

A large amount of wastewater is directly discharged into water bodies without treatment, causing surface water contamination. A rotating biological contactor (RBC) is an attached biological wastewater treatment process that offers a low energy footprint. However, its unstable removal efficiency makes it less popular. This study optimized operating parameters in RBC combined with external membrane filtration (RBC-ME), in which the latter acted as a post-treatment step to stabilize the biological performance. Response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to optimize the biological and filtration performance by exploiting three parameters, namely disk rotation, hydraulic retention time (HRT), and sludge retention time (SRT). Results show that the RBC-ME exhibited superior biological treatment capacity and higher effluent quality compared to stand-alone RBC. It attained 87.9 ± 3.2% of chemical oxygen demand, 45.2 ± 0.7% total nitrogen, 97.9 ± 0.1% turbidity, and 98.9 ± 1.1% ammonia removals. The RSM showed a good agreement between the model and the experimental data. The maximum permeability of 144.6 L/m2 h bar could be achieved under the optimum parameters of 36.1 rpm disk rotation, 18 h HRT, and 14.9 d SRT. This work demonstrated the effective use of statistical modeling to enhance RBC-ME system performance to obtain a sustainable and energy-efficient condition.

Optimization of a High-Performance Poly(diallyl dimethylammonium chloride)-alumina-perfluorooctanoate Intercalated Ultrafiltration Membrane for Treating Emulsified Oily Wastewater via Response Surface Methodology Approach.

This research aimed to investigate the ultrafiltration of water from emulsified oily wastewater through the application of surface-functionalized ceramic membrane to enhance its water permeability based on optimized parameters using a cross-flow filtration system. The interactive effects of feed concentration (10-1000 ppm), pH (4-10), and pressure (0-3 bar) on the water flux and oil rejection were investigated. Central composite design (CCD) from response surface methodology (RSM) was employed for statistical analysis, modeling, and optimization of operating conditions. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) results showed that the oil rejection and water flux models were significant with p-values of 0.0001 and 0.0075, respectively. In addition, good correlation coefficients of 0.997 and 0.863 were obtained for the oil rejection and water flux models, respectively. The optimum conditions for pressure, pH, and feed concentration were found to be 1.5 bar, pH 8.97, and 10 ppm, respectively with water flux and oil rejection maintained at 152 L/m2·h and 98.72%, respectively. Hence, the functionalized ultrafiltration ceramic membrane enables the separation efficiency of the emulsified oil in water to be achieved.

Effect of Membrane Materials and Operational Parameters on Performance and Energy Consumption of Oil/Water Emulsion Filtration.

Membrane technology is one of reliable options for treatment of oil/water emulsion. It is highly attractive because of its effectiveness in separating fine oil droplets of <2 µm sizes, which is highly challenging for other processes. However, the progress for its widespread implementations is still highly restricted by membrane fouling. Most of the earlier studies have demonstrated the promise of achieving more sustained filtration via membrane material developments. This study addresses issues beyond membrane development by assessing the impact of membrane material (blend of polysulfone, PSF and polyethylene glycol, PEG), operational pressure, and crude oil concentration on the filtration performance of oil/water emulsion. The filtration data were then used to project the pumping energy for a full-scale system. Results show that fouling resistant membrane offered high oil/water emulsion permeability, which translated into a low energy consumption. The oil/water emulsion permeability was improved by three-fold from 45 ± 0 to 139 ± 1 L/(m2 h bar) for PSF/PEG-0 membrane in comparison to the most optimum one of PSF/PEG-60. It corresponded to an energy saving of up to ~66%. The pumping energy could further be reduced from 27.0 to 7.6 Wh/m3 by operation under ultra-low pressure from 0.2 to 0.05 bar. Sustainable permeability could be achieved when treating 1000 ppm oil/water emulsion, but severe membrane fouling was observed when treating emulsion containing crude oils of >3000 ppm to a point of no flux.

[EMIM][Tf2N]-Modified Silica as Filler in Mixed Matrix Membrane for Carbon Dioxide Separation.

This study focuses on the effect of modified silica fillers by [EMIN][Tf2N] via physical adsorption on the CO2 separation performance of a mixed matrix membrane (MMM). The IL-modified silica was successfully synthesized as the presence of fluorine element was observed in both Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS) analyses. The prepared MMMs with different loadings of the IL-modified silica were then compared with an unmodified silica counterpart and neat membrane. The morphology of IL-modified MMMs was observed to have insignificant changes, while polymer chains of were found to be slightly more flexible compared to their counterpart. At 2 bar of operating pressure, a significant increase in performance was observed with the incorporation of 3 wt% Sil-IL fillers compared to that of pure polycarbonate (PC). The permeability increased from 353 to 1151 Barrer while the CO2/CH4 selectivity increased from 20 to 76. The aforementioned increment also exceeded the Robeson upper bound. This indicates that the incorporation of fillers surface-modified with ionic liquid in an organic membrane is worth exploring for CO2 separation.

Development of Polyvinylidene Fluoride Membrane via Assembly of Tannic Acid and Polyvinylpyrrolidone for Filtration of Oil/Water Emulsion.

Wastewater containing oil/water emulsion has a serious ecological impact and threatens human health. The impact worsens as its volume increases. Oil/water emulsion needs to be treated before it is discharged or reused again for processing. A membrane-based process is considered attractive in effectively treating oil/water emulsion, but progress has been dampened by the membrane fouling issue. The objective of this study is to develop polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes customized for oil/water emulsion separation by incorporating assembly of tannic acid (TA) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) in the polymer matrix. The results show that the assembly of TA/PVP complexation was achieved as observed from the change in colour during the phase inversion and as also proven from the characterization analyses. Incorporation of the TA/PVP assembly leads to enhanced surface hydrophilicity by lowering the contact angle from 82° to 47°. In situ assembly of the TA/PVP complex also leads to enhanced clean water permeability by a factor of four as a result of enhanced mean flow pore size from 0.2 to 0.9 µm. Owing to enhanced surface chemistry and structural advantages, the optimum hydrophilic PVDF/TA/PVP membrane poses permeability of 540.18 L/(m2 h bar) for oil/water emulsion filtration, three times higher than the pristine PVDF membrane used as the reference.

Polyvinylidene Fluoride Membrane Via Vapour Induced Phase Separation for Oil/Water Emulsion Filtration.

Membrane-based technology is an attractive option for the treatment of oily wastewater because of its high oil removal efficiency, small footprint and operational simplicity. However, filtration performance is highly restricted by membrane fouling, especially when treating oil/water emulsion as a result of strong interaction between oil droplets and the hydrophobic property of the membrane. This study explores the fabrication of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)-based membrane via the vapour induced phase separation (VIPS) method while incorporating polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) as a hydrophilic additive to encounter membrane fouling issues and improve membrane filterability. The resulting membranes were characterized and tested for oil/water emulsion filtration to evaluate their hydraulic, rejection and anti-fouling properties. Results show that the changes in membrane morphology and structure from typical macrovoids with finger-like substructure to cellular structure and larger membrane pore size were observed by the prolonged exposure time from 0 to 30 min through the VIPS method. The enhanced clean water permeability is attributed to the addition of PVP-LiCl in the dope solution that enlarges the mean flow pore size from 0.210 ± 0.1 to 7.709 ± 3.5 µm. The best performing membrane was the VIPS membrane with an exposure time of 5 min (M-5), showing oil/water emulsion permeability of 187 Lm-2 h-1 bar-1 and oil rejection of 91.3% as well as an elevation of 84% of clean water permeability compared to pristine PVDF developed using a typical non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) method. Despite the relatively high total fouling, M-5 was able to maintain its high permeability by water flushing as a simple operation for membrane fouling control. The performance was achieved thanks to combination of the large mean flow pore size and hydrophilic property from residual PVP in the membarne matrix. Overall, the results demonstrate the potential of the optimum VIPS method in the presence of PVP and LiCl additives for oil/water emulsion treatment.

Hybrid Membrane Distillation and Wet Scrubber for Simultaneous Recovery of Heat and Water from Flue Gas.

Flue gas contains high amount of low-grade heat and water vapor that are attractive for recovery. This study assesses performance of a hybrid of water scrubber and membrane distillation (MD) to recover both heat and water from a simulated flue gas. The former help to condense the water vapor to form a hot liquid flow which later used as the feed for the MD unit. The system simultaneously recovers water and heat through the MD permeate. Results show that the system performance is dictated by the MD performance since most heat and water can be recovered by the scrubber unit. The scrubber achieved nearly complete water and heat recovery because the flue gas flows were supersaturated with steam condensed in the water scrubber unit. The recovered water and heat in the scrubber contains in the hot liquid used as the feed for the MD unit. The MD performance is affected by both the temperature and the flow rate of the flue gas. The MD fluxes increases at higher flue gas temperatures and higher flow rates because of higher enthalpy of the flue gas inputs. The maximum obtained water and heat fluxes of 12 kg m-2 h-1 and 2505 kJm-2 h-1 respectively, obtained at flue gas temperature of 99 °C and at flow rate of 5.56 L min-1. The MD flux was also found stable over the testing period at this optimum condition. Further study on assessing a more realistic flue gas composition is required to capture complexity of the process, particularly to address the impacts of particulates and acid gases.

The Water Flux Dynamic in a Hybrid Forward Osmosis-Membrane Distillation for Produced Water Treatment.

Standalone membrane distillation (MD) and forward osmosis (FO) have been considered as promising technologies for produced water treatment. However, standalone MD is still vulnerable to membrane-wetting and scaling problems, while the standalone FO is energy-intensive, since it requires the recovery of the draw solution (DS). Thus, the idea of coupling FO and MD is proposed as a promising combination in which the MD facilitate DS recovery for FO-and FO acts as pretreatment to enhance fouling and wetting-resistance of the MD. This study was therefore conducted to investigate the effect of DS temperature on the dynamic of water flux of a hybrid FO-MD. First, the effect of the DS temperature on the standalone FO and MD was evaluated. Later, the flux dynamics of both units were evaluated when the FO and DS recovery (via MD) was run simultaneously. Results show that an increase in the temperature difference (from 20 to 60 °C) resulted in an increase of the FO and MD fluxes from 11.17 ± 3.85 to 30.17 ± 5.51 L m-2 h-1, and from 0.5 ± 0.75 to 16.08 L m-2 h-1, respectively. For the hybrid FO-MD, either MD or FO could act as the limiting process that dictates the equilibrium flux. Both the concentration and the temperature of DS affected the flux dynamic. When the FO flux was higher than MD flux, DS was diluted, and its temperature decreased; both then lowered the FO flux until reaching an equilibrium (equal FO and MD flux). When FO flux was lower than MD flux, the DS was concentrated which increased the FO flux until reaching the equilibrium. The overall results suggest the importance of temperature and concentration of solutes in the DS in affecting the water flux dynamic hybrid process.

Detergent and Water Recovery from Laundry Wastewater Using Tilted Panel Membrane Filtration System.

Increasing global concern on clean water scarcity and environmental sustainability drive invention in water reclamation technology. Laundry wastewater reclamation via membrane technology faces the challenge of membrane fouling. This paper assesses a tilting-the-filtration-panel filtration system for the treatment of real laundry wastewater filtration aimed for water and detergent reuse. Results showed that the panel tilting significantly improved fouling control and enhanced permeability due to enhanced contact of air bubbles with the membrane surface, which induced continuous detachment of foulant from the membrane surface. The combination of aeration rate and tilting angle resulted in up to 83% permeability enhancement from 109 to 221.4 ± 10.8 (L/m2·h·bar). The system also offers 32% detergent recovery. Overall findings suggest that the system offers an attractive approach for both fouling management and detergent recovery and can potentially be applied under a simple setup in which filtration can be driven by gravity/hydrostatic pressure.

Integrated Membrane-Electrocoagulation System for Removal of Celestine Blue Dyes in Wastewater.

The textile industry provides for the needs of people especially in apparel and household items. The industry also discharges dye-containing wastewater that is typically challenging to treat. Despite the application of the biological and chemical treatments for the treatment of textile wastewater, these methods have their own drawbacks such as non-environment friendly, high cost and energy intensive. This research investigates the efficiency of the celestine blue dye removal from simulated textile wastewater by electrocoagulation (EC) method using iron (Fe) electrodes through an electrolytic cell, integrated with nylon 6,6 nanofiber (NF) membrane filtration for the separation of the flocculants from aqueous water. Based on the results, the integrated system achieves a high dye removal efficiency of 79.4%, by using 1000 ppm of sodium chloride as the electrolyte and 2 V of voltage at a constant pH of 7 and 10 ppm celestine blue dye solution, compared to the standalone EC method in which only 43.2% removal was achieved. Atomic absorption spectroscopy analysis was used to identify the traces of iron in the residual EC solution confirming the absence of iron. The EC-integrated membrane system thus shows superior performance compared to the conventional method whereby an additional 10-30% of dye was removed at 1 V and 2 V using similar energy consumptions.

Insight into the Sustainable Integration of Bio- and Petroleum Refineries for the Production of Fuels and Chemicals.

A petroleum refinery heavily depends on crude oil as its main feedstock to produce liquid fuels and chemicals. In the long term, this unyielding dependency is threatened by the depletion of the crude oil reserve. However, in the short term, its price highly fluctuates due to various factors, such as regional and global security instability causing additional complexity on refinery production planning. The petroleum refining industries are also drawing criticism and pressure due to their direct and indirect impacts on the environment. The exhaust gas emission of automobiles apart from the industrial and power plant emission has been viewed as the cause of global warming. In this sense, there is a need for a feasible, sustainable, and environmentally friendly generation process of fuels and chemicals. The attention turns to the utilization of biomass as a potential feedstock to produce substitutes for petroleum-derived fuels and building blocks for biochemicals. Biomass is abundant and currently is still low in utilization. The biorefinery, a facility to convert biomass into biofuels and biochemicals, is still lacking in competitiveness to a petroleum refinery. An attractive solution that addresses both is by the integration of bio- and petroleum refineries. In this context, the right decision making in the process selection and technologies can lower the investment and operational costs and assure optimum yield. Process optimization based on mathematical programming has been extensively used to conduct techno-economic and sustainability analysis for bio-, petroleum, and the integration of both refineries. This paper provides insights into the context of crude oil and biomass as potential refinery feedstocks. The current optimization status of either bio- or petroleum refineries and their integration is reviewed with the focus on the methods to solve the multi-objective optimization problems. Internal and external uncertain parameters are important aspects in process optimization. The nature of these uncertain parameters and their representation methods in process optimization are also discussed.

Performance of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane for Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Application: Perspective on Morphological Structure.

Membrane morphology plays a great role in determining the performance of polymer electrolyte membranes (PEMs), especially for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) applications. Membrane morphology can be divided into two types, which are dense and porous structures. Membrane fabrication methods have different configurations, including dense, thin and thick, layered, sandwiched and pore-filling membranes. All these types of membranes possess the same densely packed structural morphology, which limits the transportation of protons, even at a low methanol crossover. This paper summarizes our work on the development of PEMs with various structures and architecture that can affect the membrane's performance, in terms of microstructures and morphologies, for potential applications in DMFCs. An understanding of the transport behavior of protons and methanol within the pores' limits could give some perspective in the delivery of new porous electrolyte membranes for DMFC applications.

Patterned Membrane in an Energy-Efficient Tilted Panel Filtration System for Fouling Control in Activated Sludge Filtration.

A membrane bioreactor enhances the overall biological performance of a conventional activated sludge system for wastewater treatment by producing high-quality effluent suitable for reuse. However, membrane fouling hinders the widespread application of membrane bioreactors by reducing the hydraulic performance, shortening membrane lifespan, and increasing the operational costs for membrane fouling management. This study assesses the combined effect of membrane surface corrugation and a tilted panel in enhancing the impact of air bubbling for membrane fouling control in activated sludge filtration, applicable for membrane bioreactors. The filterability performance of such a system was further tested under variable parameters: Filtration cycle, aeration rate, and intermittent aeration. Results show that a combination of surface corrugation and panel tilting enhances the impact of aeration and leads to 87% permeance increment. The results of the parametric study shows that the highest permeance was achieved under short filtration-relaxation cycle of 5 min, high aeration rate of 1.5 L/min, and short switching period of 2.5 min, to yield the permeances of 465 ± 18, 447 ± 2, and 369 ± 9 L/(m2h bar), respectively. The high permeances lead to higher operational flux that helps to lower the membrane area as well as energy consumption. Initial estimation of the fully aerated system yields the energy input of 0.152 kWh/m3, much lower than data from the full-scale references of <0.4 kWh/m3. Further energy savings and a lower system footprint can still be achieved by applying the two-sided panel with a switching system, which will be addressed in the future.