Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia; Research Centre of Sustainable Process Technology (CESPRO), Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia.
J Environ Manage. 2021 Jan 1;277:111434. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.111434. Epub 2020 Oct 9.
This study assessed the environmental impacts of the formulation of graphene oxide (GO)/multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) conductive membranes and of the process operating parameters of electrically-enhanced palm oil mill effluent (POME) filtration. Two different analyses approaches were employed, cradle-to-gate approach for conductive membrane production and gate-to-gate approach for the POME filtration process. The parameters in conductive-membrane formulation (e.g. the weight ratio of carbon nanomaterials, and concentration of GO/MWCNT nanohybrids) and process operating parameters (e.g. electric field strength and electricity operating mode) were investigated. The findings herein are twofold. Firstly, for the fabrication of GO/MWCNT conductive membranes, the best weight ratio of GO:MWCNTs was found to be 1:9, given its superior membrane electrical conductivity with lower environmental impacts by 8.51% compared to pristine MWCNTs. The most suitable concentration of carbon nanomaterials was found to be 5 wt%, given its lowest impacts on resource depletion, human health, and ecosystems. Secondly, for the electrically-enhanced POME filtration, the optimum process operating parameters were found to be the application of an electric field of 300 V/cm in the continuous mode, given its lower environmental impacts (22.99%-89.30%) secondary to its requirement of the least electricity to produce permeate. The present study has established not only the optimized conditions in membrane formulation but also the operating parameters of electrically-enhanced filtration; such findings enable the use of cleaner production and sustainable approach to minimize fouling for industrial applications, whilst maintaining excellent efficiency.
本研究评估了氧化石墨烯（GO）/多壁碳纳米管（MWCNTs）导电膜的配方以及电增强棕榈油厂废水（POME）过滤过程操作参数的环境影响。采用了两种不同的分析方法，即从摇篮到大门的方法用于导电膜的生产和从大门到大门的方法用于 POME 过滤过程。研究了导电膜配方（例如碳纳米材料的重量比和 GO/MWCNT 纳米杂化物的浓度）和过程操作参数（例如电场强度和电流操作模式）。本文的研究结果有两个方面。首先，对于 GO/MWCNT 导电膜的制备，发现 GO:MWCNTs 的最佳重量比为 1:9，因为与原始 MWCNTs 相比，其具有更高的膜电导率和更低的环境影响（低 8.51%）。发现最适合的碳纳米材料浓度为 5wt%，因为它对资源枯竭、人类健康和生态系统的影响最小。其次，对于电增强 POME 过滤，发现最适合的工艺操作参数是在连续模式下施加 300V/cm 的电场，因为它的环境影响较低（22.99%-89.30%），因为其需要最少的电量来生产渗透物。本研究不仅确定了膜配方的优化条件，而且还确定了电增强过滤的操作参数；这些发现使清洁生产和可持续方法能够用于工业应用，以最小化污染，同时保持优异的效率。
