Recent Progress of Adsorptive Ultrafiltration Membranes in Water Treatment—A Mini Review

Abstract

Adsorptive ultrafiltration mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) are a new strategy, developed in recent years, to remove harmful cations and small-molecule organics from wastewater and drinking water, which achieve ultrafiltration and adsorption functions in one unit and are considered to be among the promising technologies that have exhibited efficiency and competence in water reuse. This mini review concerns the research progress of adsorptive ultrafiltration MMMs for removing heavy metal ions and small-molecule organics. We firstly introduce the types and classifications of adsorptive ultrafiltration MMMs (their classifications can be established based on the type of the adsorbent used). Furthermore, we discuss the removal mechanism of adsorptive ultrafiltration MMMs, as well as summarizing the main fabrication techniques for adsorptive ultrafiltration membranes. In addition, we identified some of the issues and challenges of the practical application for adsorptive ultrafiltration.