Membrane Technologies for Water Treatment

Born 1970 in La Spezia, Italy. Alberto Figoli got his PhD in Chemical Technologies at the Membrane Technology Group, University of Twente (The Netherlands), in 2001. Since 2001, he is working as permanent researcher at the Institute on Membrane Technology, ITM-CNR (Italy). He is expert in the field of membrane technology, particularly in membrane preparation and characterisation and membrane operations related to environmental issues. He attended more than 100 national and international conferences on membranes with oral and poster presentations and as chairman. He also presented lectures at courses on membrane operations as invited speaker. In 2006, he received the prize on Scientific Productivity "Food Packaging Research GSICA Awards", on the basis of the scientific work he carried out during the years on food packaging issues. He presented several book chapters on Membrane Preparation and Application and he is author of more than 60 scientific papers published in international journals and of a US patent on membrane technology application. Alberto is member of several associations that deal with membranes (EMS, GISCA) and is involved as scientific responsible for ITM-CNR in several national and international and Eurpean projects.

Part I Generality on arsenic, fluoride and uranium

1. Fluoride, uranium and arsenic: occurrence, mobility, chemistry, human health impacts and concerns 1.1 Introduction
1.2 Fluoride
1.3 Uranium
1.4 Arsenic

Part II Traditional membrane processes

2. Arsenic removal by low pressure-driven membrane operations2.1 Introduction
2.2 Microfiltration and ultrafiltration
2.3 Arsenic removal by using microfiltration
2.4 Arsenic removal by using ultrafiltration
2.5 Conclusions

3. Fluoride and uranium removal by nanofiltration3.1 Introduction
3.2 Common removal technologies
3.3 Removal of dissolved fluoride and uranium by NF
3.4 Conclusions and outlook

4. The use of reverse osmosis (RO) for removal of arsenic, fluoride and uranium from drinking water4.1 Reverse osmosis: background and transport mechanism
4.2 Types of RO membranes
4.3 Membrane modules and their application
4.4 Reverse osmosis for arsenic, fluoride and uranium removal from water
4.5 Experimental study for removal of arsenic and fluoride from water by RO and loose RO membranes
4.6 Conclusion

5. Electro-membrane processes for the removal of trace toxic metal ions from water5.1 Introduction
5.2 Case studies
5.3 Concluding remarks and future needs

6. Fluoride, arsenic and uranium removal from water using adsorbent materials and integrated membrane systems6.1 Introduction
6.2 Fluoride
6.3 Arsenic
6.4 Uranium
6.5 Concluding remarks and outlook

Part III New trends in materials and process development

7. Biosorbent materials and membranes for the treatment of toxic ions from water
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Mechanism of metal biosorption and factors affecting its performance
7.3 Equilibrium models for bioadsorption process
7.4 Choice of metals for bioadsorption studies
7.5 Biosorbent materials as a precursor in membrane preparation
7.6 Hybrid of biosorption and membrane processes
7.7 Biofiltration
7.8 Bioadsorption of arsenic, uranium and fluoride
7.9 Conclusion

8. Liquid membrane separations of uranium
Prasanta Kumar Mohapatra8.1 Introduction
8.2 Liquid membranes
8.3 Liquid membrane separations using different extractants
8.4 Applications of liquid membranes for uranium recovery
8.5 Conclusion and perspectives

9. Supported liquid membrane technology in the removal and recovery of toxic ions from water9.1 Introduction
9.2 Theory
9.3 SLM application in the removal and recovery of toxic ions from water
9.4 Conclusion

10. Polymer inclusion membranes for the separation of uranium and arsenic from dilute aqueous solutions10.1 Introduction
10.2 Extraction and separation of solutes
10.3 Separation of uranium
10.4 Separation of arsenic
10.5 Conclusion and outlook

11. Removal of arsenic by nanofiltration: a case study on novel membrane materials11.1 Introduction
11.2 Nanofiltration (NF)
11.3 Removal of arsenic by nanofiltration
11.4 High performance NF membranes
11.5 Cost evaluation
11.6 Summary and outlook

12. Fate and removal of trace metals/metalloids and fluoride from urban wastewater by membrane bioreactors: pilot and full-scale experiences12.1 Introduction
12.2 Myths and realities about MBR
12.3 Occurrence, fate and removal of trace metals, metalloids and fluoride
12.4 Conclusion

13. Membrane distillation for the treatment of waters contaminated by arsenic, fluoride and uranium13.1 Introduction
13.2 Traditional treatments
13.3 Application of the membrane distillation technique
13.4 Synthesis of the literature results
13.5 Conclusions and remarks

14. Removal of inorganic and organic trace contaminants by forward osmosis membranes14.1 Introduction
14.2 Fundamentals of mass transport and solute rejection in FO
14.3 Removal of organic contaminants by FO membranes
14.4 Removal of inorganic contaminants by FO membranes
14.5 Conclusions and outlook