Bioinspired Multifunctional Membrane for Aquatic Micropollutants Removal

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Materials Science
• Chemical Engineering

Background:

• Micropollutants pose significant ecological risks.
• Existing membrane technologies face challenges like fouling and variable permeate quality.
• Advanced solutions are needed for efficient micropollutant removal.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a multifunctional membrane for enhanced micropollutant removal.
• To address limitations of conventional membrane processes.
• To investigate the combined effects of rejection, adsorption, and catalysis.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a multifunctional membrane using mussel-inspired chemistry and laccase enzyme.
• Application of reverse filtration and dopamine coating on nanofiltration supports.
• Testing bisphenol A (BPA) removal efficiency on three different nanofiltration membranes.

Main Results:

• Multifunctional membranes showed significantly improved BPA removal (up to 97.04%) compared to pristine membranes and Fenton treatment.
• Performance was comparable to soluble enzyme-coupled membrane filtration.
• Synergistic effects of polydopamine coating enhanced adsorption and catalytic oxidation.
• The membrane demonstrated reusability over at least seven cycles with minimal activity loss.

Conclusions:

• The developed multifunctional membrane offers a superior solution for micropollutant removal.
• The combination of separation, adsorption, and catalysis provides enhanced efficiency.
• This technology shows great potential for practical water treatment applications.