Review of recent developments on membrane technology for wastewater treatment

Abstract

This review provides an overview of the present situation, of the membrane technology with special emphasis on performance and bottlenecks in terms of its application at industrial scale. Most of the studies considered in this review were performed at bench scale. Membrane reactors which contain nanofiltration (NF), ultrafiltration (UF) and reverse osmosis (RO) were fitted with hollow fibre, tubular membranes and ceramic membranes. The studies on wastewater treatment by NF, UF and RO are presented. Treated waters may be directly discharged into water bodies if they meet the effluent discharge standard of the area. Membrane technology is an attractive technology that needs further research efforts and industrialisation. However, membrane fouling still remains a major problem for all membrane reactors. Discussions are also made on how to resolve membrane fouling for wastewater treatment.