Affiliation:
1. University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Strategic Water Infrastructure Laboratory, School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, Wollongong, Australia
Abstract
This chapter demonstrates the source and pathway of emerging
contaminants (ECs) and their removal by advanced membrane technologies. These ECs
are naturally occurring or synthetic organic pollutants, including pharmaceuticals and
personal care products, estrogens, industrial chemicals, UV filters, pesticides, and
endocrine-disrupting chemicals ubiquitously detected in wastewater and wastewater impacted surface waterbodies. Emerging contaminants have detrimental effects on
aquatic flora and fauna and may affect human health. Due to the persistent nature of
ECs, they are resistant to conventional wastewater treatments. Moreover, different
physicochemical processes have shown ineffectiveness for the removal of ECs.
Therefore, there is a need for robust wastewater treatment processes such as advanced
membrane technologies that can effectively remove these ECs. Advanced membrane
technologies use membranes that separate ECs from the solution and include forward
osmosis, reverse osmosis, nanofiltration, ultrafiltration, microfiltration, catalytic
membranes, and membrane bioreactors. Briefly, the focus of this chapter is to provide
an overview of different membrane separation technologies and illustrate various
examples of ECs removal.
Publisher
BENTHAM SCIENCE PUBLISHERS