Transfomem - News & Events

25/04/18

Final workshop of LIFE TRANSFOMEM project

Next month is going to be celebrated the final workshop of LIFE TRANSFOMEM project about "End-of-life membrane management. Towards a circular economy".

This event is going to take place on 16th may in IMDEA Water. The registration is free (limited to the first 50 confirmations to the email info@life-transfomem.eu).

In the workshop the last updates of the LIFE TRANSFOMEM project are going to be explained. In this sense, the application of the recycled membranes at pilot scale and the last advances in the research about membrane recycling are going to be disclosed. Moreover, the pilot plant of the LIFE TRANSFOMEM project installed in Guadalajara will be visited.

We are waiting for you!

(+info)

06/03/18

New scientific paper about characterization of recycled membranes

In this paper the effect of sodium hypochlorite exposure in the surface of recycled ultrafiltration membranes was studied. For this aim 6 different end-of-life RO membranes were exposed to different doses of the chemical agent.

Inorganic and organic fouling, membrane surface and performance were studied by different techniques before and after the exposure to sodium hypochlorite.

For more information, download the paper in the following link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2018.02.012

05/01/18

New scientific paper related to LIFE TRANSFOMEM Project

Over the 65% of the installed desalination capacity is related on reverse osmosis (RO) membrane technology. However, membranes have to be replaced when fouling effect is irreversible. In fact, it is estimated that > 840,000 end-of-life RO membranes modules are discarded annually at worldwide scale, mostly in landfills.

In this study, end-of-life RO membranes were recycled at pilot scale by using concentrated solutions of free chlorine. Chemical attack enables the removal of polyamide layer partially or totally, obtaining nanofiltration (NF) and ultrafiltration (UF) membranes, respectively. 5 diverse end-of-life models were tested. Recycled membrane performance (permeability and rejection coefficients) was identified by filtering natural brackish water (BW). Further, validation test were conducted in order to analyze the recycled membrane stability by filtering BW long-term at Cuevas del Almanzora Desalination plant. For this purpose, two real pressure vessels with the capacity of hosting 6 membranes each were adapted. Recycled membranes did not show performance decline after 4 month of filtration. Promising results have been observed. Recycled seawater membranes with properties between RO and NF were validated as potentially fusible membranes. Recycled BW membranes, with high sulphate ion selectivity, were evaluated as a potential alternative of the current NF commercial membranes.

See the full paper at the following link https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2017.12.034