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Abstract:

In the face of growing global water scarcity and pollution, advanced nanofiltration (NF) membrane technology offers a promising solution for treating textile wastewater. This study addresses key challenges such as achieving a balance between permeance and selectivity, as well as combating membrane fouling, by employing innovative materials and fabrication techniques. The research led to the development of two high-performance NF membranes. The first type uses renewable quercetin (QE) as a monomer, resulting in a membrane that can efficiently separate dyes from salts. This QE-based membrane showed a remarkable improvement in dye/salt fractionation efficiency and significantly reduced water and energy consumption. The second type of membrane, made with amino acids, also demonstrated high efficiency in dye separation and water permeance, with minimal salt rejection. To maintain the performance of these membranes, the study developed optimized cleaning strategies. These strategies were crucial in significantly reducing membrane fouling, thereby ensuring long-term effectiveness in wastewater treatment. Specifically, different cleaning agents were tested, and it was found that NaClO solution was most effective for cleaning QE-based membranes, while NaOH solution worked best for amino acid-based membranes. Furthermore, the study introduced a novel approach to creating polyamide membranes that effectively reject divalent ions, which is essential for the complete treatment of textile wastewater. By combining phase inversion and interfacial polymerization, researchers developed a membrane with high rejection rates for both anions and cations, thus enhancing the separation efficiency. Overall, this research not only demonstrates the potential of NF technology in achieving zero discharge of textile wastewater but also highlights the importance of innovative materials, fabrication methods, and cleaning strategies in advancing water treatment technologies.