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Published on: February 13, 2016
Reuse of Water in Laundry Applications with Micro- and Ultrafiltration Ceramic Membrane
Beatrice Dal Pio Luogo1, Toufic Salim2, Wenjing Zhang3
1Politecnico di Milano, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (DICA)-Environmental Section, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano, Italy.
Abstract:
This study compares the performance of a microfiltration membrane, made by silicon carbide (SiC) and an ultrafiltration membrane, made by zirconia (ZrO2), in the treatment of wastewater from a washing machine designed to clean industrial tents. The filtration of deionized water, containing model microplastics (i.e., nylon fiber), was performed. This was followed by the filtration of real wastewater from a single washing cycle of industrial tents, made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) textile. The filtration parameters of the membranes and physical-chemical parameters of the wastewater, including the concentration of microplastics in the shape of tent fibers (PVC), were calculated before and after filtration. The microfiltration membrane manifested a greater decrease in permeability (95%) compared to the ultrafiltration membrane (37%). The resulting water quality in terms of Total Solids, turbidity, and microplastics concentration was better for the ultrafiltration. This is evident from 99.2% versus 98.55% removal efficiency of microplastics from the laundering wastewater, respectively.
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