AMF · Advancing Membrane Filtration: Understanding Fouling Dynamics and Sustainable Cleaning Strategies

Understanding and managing the complex interactions between water and energy is a major challenge. To meet the increasing demand for clean water it is necessary to rely on the reclamation of water from unconventional sources such as domestic or industrial wastewater. Membrane filtration is a key technology to augment water resources, but its performances are strongly impacted by membrane fouling that increases the energy consumption of the process. On the other hand, the formation of a biofilm during the membrane fouling deposition has been reported to positively affect the treated water quality. Yet, due to its complexity, membrane fouling is still a puzzling phenomenon with many unexplained aspects due to the lack of appropriate tools. In the last few years, I have been developing an innovative approach that enables monitoring membrane fouling under-continuous operation. The use of this tool is a unique opportunity for a combined experimental-theoretical approach, where the experimental results can be used as input for the modeling. The main objective of this project is to progress towards a deep understanding of the deposition and removal phenomena in membrane filtration processes. The project will include the development of a membrane platform, comprising of observation method and model (i), the understanding of the impact of fouling mechanical proprieties on cleaning efficiency by using Optical Coherence Elastography (ii), development of a selective and sustainable membrane cleaning strategy to allow the tailored recovery of valuable byproducts, removal of target compounds and restorage of membrane performance (iii) and the development of a sensor for full-scale membrane processes (iv). The outcome of this project is a fundamental step towards the necessary advancement of membrane-based processes for water reclamation as sustainable and efficient solution to the global water challenges.