Electroactive membrane with the electroactive layer beneath the separation layer to eliminate the interference of humic acid in the oxidation of antibiotics.

Removing harmful antibiotics is essential to reclaiming water from municipal secondary effluent. Electroactive membranes are effective in the removal of antibiotics but challenged by the abundant coexisting macromolecular organic pollutants in municipal secondary effluent. To eliminate the interference of macromolecular organic pollutants in the removal of antibiotics, we propose a novel electroactive membrane with a top polyacrylonitrile (PAN) ultrafiltration layer and a bottom electroactive layer composed of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and polyaniline (PANi).

A critical review on classifications, characteristics, and applications of electrically conductive membranes for toxic pollutant removal from water: Comparison between composite and inorganic electrically conductive membranes.

Research efforts have recently been directed at developing electrically conductive membranes (EMs) for pressure-driven membrane separation processes to remove effectively the highly toxic pollutants from water. EMs serve as both the filter and the electrode during filtration. With the assistance of a power supply, EMs can considerably improve the toxic pollutant removal efficiency and even realize chemical degradation to reduce their toxicity.

A mini review on bio-electrochemical systems for the treatment of azo dye wastewater: State-of-the-art and future prospects.

Azo dyes are typical toxic and refractory organic pollutants widely used in the textile industry. Bio-electrochemical systems (BESs) have great potential for the treatment of azo dyes with the help of microorganisms as biocatalysts and have advanced significantly in recent years. However, the latest and significant advancement and achievements of BESs treating azo dyes have not been reviewed since 8 years ago.

Simultaneously enhancing degradation of refractory organics and achieving nitrogen removal by coupling denitrifying biocathode with MnO/Ti anode.

To simultaneously remove carbon and nitrogen from refractory organic wastewater, this study couples the denitrifying biocathode and MnO/Ti anode to oxidize refractory organic pollutants in the anode chamber and remove NO-N in the cathode chamber (denitrifying biocathode-electrocatalytic reactor, DBECR). After inoculation, DBECR started up at 1.3 and 1.

Enhanced anodic oxidation and energy saving for dye removal by integrating O-reducing biocathode into electrocatalytic reactor.

Simultaneous enhancement of dye removal and reduction of energy consumption is critical for electrochemical oxidation in treating dyeing wastewater. To address this issue, this work presented a novel process termed biocathode-electrocatalytic reactor (BECR). The dual-chamber BECR employed O-reducing biocathode instead of normal stainless steel (SS) cathode and MnO/Ti anode to reduce O in the cathode chamber and treat methylene blue (MB) in the anode chamber, respectively.

Ultra-low graphene oxide loading for water permeability, antifouling and antibacterial improvement of polyethersulfone/sulfonated polysulfone ultrafiltration membranes.

The aqueous dispersion of graphene oxide (GO) was employed as additive to fabricate antifouling and antibacterial polyethersulfone (PES)/sulfonated polysulfone (SPSf)/GO mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) by the non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS). The effect of different amounts of GO on the morphology and performance of MMMs were studied. The results showed that the casting solution exhibited an increasing trend in viscosity with increment in GO concentration (from 0 to 0.

Improved antifouling properties of polyamide nanofiltration membranes by reducing the density of surface carboxyl groups.

Carboxyls are inherent functional groups of thin-film composite polyamide nanofiltration (NF) membranes, which may play a role in membrane performance and fouling. Their surface presence is attributed to incomplete reaction of acyl chloride monomers during the membrane active layer synthesis by interfacial polymerization. In order to unravel the effect of carboxyl group density on organic fouling, NF membranes were fabricated by reacting piperazine (PIP) with either isophthaloyl chloride (IPC) or the more commonly used trimesoyl chloride (TMC).

Carbon nanotube powders as electrode modifier to enhance the activity of anodic biofilm in microbial fuel cells.

Carbon nanotube (CNT) is a promising electrode material and has been used as an anode modifier in microbial fuel cells (MFCs). In this study, a new method of simultaneously adding CNT powders and Geobacter sulfurreducens into the anode chamber of a MFC was used, aiming to form a composite biofilm on the anode. The performance of MFCs such as startup time and steady-state power generation was investigated under conditions of different CNT powders dosages.