A double membrane reactor was fabricated and assessed for continuous treatment of water containing organic contaminants by ozonation. This innovative reactor consisted of a zeolite membrane prepared on the inner surface of a porous α-alumina support, which served as water selective extractor and active contactor, and a porous stainless membrane which was the ozone gas diffuser. The coupling of membrane separation and chemical oxidation was found to be highly beneficial to both processes. The total organic carbon (TOC) removal rate at the retentate was enhanced by up to 2.2 times, as compared to membrane ozonation. Simultaneously, clean water ( 2 mg C.L^-1) was consistently produced on the permeate side, using a feed solution containing up to 1000 mg C.L^-1, while the retentate was concent...[ Read more ]

A double membrane reactor was fabricated and assessed for continuous treatment of water containing organic contaminants by ozonation. This innovative reactor consisted of a zeolite membrane prepared on the inner surface of a porous α-alumina support, which served as water selective extractor and active contactor, and a porous stainless membrane which was the ozone gas diffuser. The coupling of membrane separation and chemical oxidation was found to be highly beneficial to both processes. The total organic carbon (TOC) removal rate at the retentate was enhanced by up to 2.2 times, as compared to membrane ozonation. Simultaneously, clean water (< 2 mg C.L^-1) was consistently produced on the permeate side, using a feed solution containing up to 1000 mg C.L^-1, while the retentate was concentrated and treated. Most significantly, the addition of an adsorbing material, as a bed or a coated layer, onto the pores of the membrane support, was shown to further enhance TOC degradation, permeated TOC concentration, permeate flux, and moreover, ozone yield. The achievements of this project included:

The development of a novel low-temperature zeolite membrane activation method that generates consistently high quality membranes (i.e. high reproducibility and fewer defects).

The demonstration that γ-alumina and γ-alumina supported catalysts do not have significant activity and that the TOC removal enhancement usually observed during catalytic ozonation was due primarily to the contribution of adsorption and metal leaching. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and elemental analysis (EA) of the spent catalyst showed that, during catalytic ozonation, oxygenated by-products of increased adsorbability were concentrated onto the γ-alumina contactor, and were subsequently degraded.

The development of a method for coating high surface area γ-alumina layers onto the grains of zeolite membrane support used as the active membrane contactor.