Research Abstracts

Ceramic membranes are of particular interest in many industrial processes due to their ability to function under extreme conditions while maintaining their chemical and thermal stability. Major structural deficiencies under conventional fabrication approach are pin-holes and cracks, and the dramatic

Microporous membranes with bicontinuous structure and good strength were prepared via thermally induced phase separation (TIPS) method. Isotactic polypropylene (iPP) and diamyl phthalate (DAP) were used as a polymer and diluent, respectively. Based on Flory-Huggins theory, the phase diagram was obta

Dairy ultrafiltration permeate (UFP) has been filtered using polyamide nanofiltration (NF) membranes in order to separate potentially valuable calcium and lactose from unwanted monovalent salts. An investigation into both the fouling and separation behaviour has been carried out to gather useful inf

Polyphenols represent a wide class of organic compounds characterised by oxidrylic group bound to an aromatic ring. Their presence makes agro-food wastewaters phytotoxic and not suitable to conventional biological oxidation because of the inhibition of the bacterial activity. In this work the oxidat

The non-porous, flat membranes were prepared from soluble polyimides based on 4,40 -oxydi(phthalic anhydride) or 4,40 -(hexafluoroisopropylidene)diphthalic anhydride and 2,2-bis(3-amino-4-hydroxyphenyl)hexafluoropropane. Poly(ethylene adipate) terminated with 4-methyl-1,3-phenylene diisocyanate with

Palladium alloy composite membranes for hydrogen separation have been fabricated on a porous stainless steel (SS) support by the vacuum electrodeposition and laminating procedure of thin palladium alloy film less than 25 mm. In spite of the formation of an alloy with copper, the brittleness of the p

The CSIRO Flagship Cluster project Advanced Membrane Technologies for Water Treatment is a collaboration of nine Australian Universities and the CSIRO looking at improving the energy efficiency of desalination of seawater using membrane processes. One of the initial aims of the cluster is to develop

In order to ensure a stable and reliable operation of municipal MBR plants, an enhanced mechanical pretreatment of the raw wastewater is essential. Removal of hair, fibrous material and other contraries which can lead to operational problems at the membrane modules is of particular importance. As th

The study is aimed at defining possible correlations between sludge retention time (SRT), biomass growth, biomass activity and membrane cleaning requirements in a submerged membrane bioreactor (MBR). For the experimental campaign, a lab-scale MBR was continuously fed on pre-settled municipal wastewa

Laboratory scale experiments were conducted to investigate the removal mechanisms of trace organic contaminants using a submerged MBR system. The system was equipped with a Zenon ZW-1 membrane module. Bisphenol A and sulfamethoxazole were selected as model trace organics representing endocrine disru