(2y) Enhancing the Sustainability of Produced Water Treatment: Integrated EC-MF-Mdc System for Membrane Distillation with Crystallization

Abstract: Membrane distillation integrated with crystallization (MDC) shows promise for sustainable management of produced water. However, challenges of membrane fouling and wetting due to high inorganic contents, oil, and grease aggregation must be addressed. To design a compact and efficient treatment scheme, we investigated an integrated electro-coagulation (EC) - micro-filtration (MF) system as a pilot-scale pretreatment step. The EC-MF system yielded a daily effluent volume of 3600 L, manageable for subsequent membrane distillation. The commercial PVDF membrane was compared with carbon-based conductive superhydrophobic membranes. Long-term performance and water recovery were evaluated through continuous MD tests, including a crystallization step between each MD cycle. The continuous MDC process achieved nearly six-fold water recovery increase, with the membrane effectively recovering approximately 10% of the feed in each cycle over six cycles. Our findings provide compelling evidence that the integrated water treatment system (EC-MF-MDC) is feasible and scalable for effective produced water treatment. By mitigating membrane fouling and wetting challenges, this approach has significant potential to enhance sustainability, efficiency, water resource management, and environmental conservation.

Research Interests -

Membrane developments for water and energy applications

Teaching Interests-

1. Advanced Membrane Technology for Water Treatment Applications

This course will cover following topics; -

• Membrane chemistry, structure, classification, and characteristics
• Membrane separation process and mass transfer phenomena
• Preparation and fabrication of novel polymer and composite membranes
• Recent advances in microfiltration, ultra-filtration, nanofiltration, reverse osmosis, forward osmosis and membrane distillation process
• Challenges and opportunities in membrane separation process in application perspective

2. Reactive membranes for wastewater treatment and other applications

This course will cover following topics; -

• Conductive membranes: preparation, fabrication, and characteristics
• Advanced oxidation, reduction process of organic and Inorganic pollutants
• Reactive membranes for fuel cell, batteries and capacitors

3. Functional nanomaterials and nanotechnology in water treatment

This course will cover following topics; -

• Significance of Nanotechnology in Wastewater Treatment
• Preparation of functional nanomaterials and its characterization
• Adsorption to photodegradation applications

In addition, I am interested in the following courses.

• Chemistry Laboratory
• Electrochemical Science & Engineering
• General Chemistry Laboratory
• Electrochemistry
• Advanced Engineering Materials
• Materials Characterization Technique
• Separation process
• Sustainability and Environment