Roman Malgorzata, Roman Pawel, Verbeke Rhea, Gutierrez Leonardo, Vanoppen Marjolein, Dickmann Marcel, Egger Werner, Vankelecom Ivo, Post Jan, Cornelissen Emile, Keesman Karel, Verliefde Arne
Wetsus, European Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Water Technology, Oostergoweg 9, 8911 MA Leeuwarden, the Netherlands.
Centre for Advanced Process Technology for Urban Resource Recovery (CAPTURE), Particle and Interfacial Technology Group, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
iScience. 2021 Jan 22;24(2):102095. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102095. eCollection 2021 Feb 19.
There is no efficient wastewater treatment solution for removing organic micropollutants (OMPs), which, therefore, are continuously introduced to the Earth's surface waters. This creates a severe risk to aquatic ecosystems and human health. In emerging water treatment processes based on ion-exchange membranes (IEM), transport of OMPs through membranes remains unknown. We performed a comprehensive investigation of the OMP transport through a single IEM under non-steady-state conditions. For the first time, positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy was used to study differences in the free volume element radius between anion- and cation-exchange membranes, and between their thicknesses. The dynamic diffusion-adsorption model was used to calculate the adsorption and diffusion coefficients of OMPs. Remarkably, diffusion coefficients increased with the membrane thickness, where its surface resistance was more evident in thinner membranes. Presented results will contribute to the improved design of next-generation IEMs with higher selectivity toward multiple types of organic compounds.
目前尚无有效的废水处理解决方案来去除有机微污染物（OMPs），因此这些污染物不断被排入地球地表水。这对水生生态系统和人类健康构成了严重风险。在基于离子交换膜（IEM）的新兴水处理工艺中，OMPs通过膜的传输情况尚不清楚。我们在非稳态条件下对OMPs通过单一IEM的传输进行了全面研究。首次使用正电子湮没寿命谱来研究阴离子交换膜和阳离子交换膜之间以及它们厚度之间的自由体积元半径差异。采用动态扩散吸附模型计算OMPs的吸附和扩散系数。值得注意的是，扩散系数随膜厚度增加而增大，其中表面阻力在较薄的膜中更为明显。所呈现的结果将有助于改进下一代对多种有机化合物具有更高选择性的IEM的设计。
