CERAWATER

Fouling resistant ceramic honeycomb nanofilters for efficient water treatment

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'The main challenge of the proposed project is the development of a ceramic honeycomb nanofiltration membrane with strongly increased membrane area of up to 25 m². The strongly increased membrane area in comparison with existing ceramic membranes for nanofiltration in combination with a high surface to volume ratio shall be competitive with polymeric membranes in terms of economics. The nanofiltration coating will allow for instance the direct filtration of surface water for drinking water preparation by a “low volume, low energy” filtration process. The low fouling tendency of the ceramic material will lead to low operating costs and reduced membrane down time during membrane cleaning. The high mechanical stability enables high pressure back-flushing of the membranes. The high chemical and thermal stability of the membrane material allows the chemical or thermal regeneration and sterilization by aggressive chemicals or hot steam if needed. Furthermore ceramic membranes shows considerably higher permeate fluxes in comparison to polymeric membranes. In addition to the high permeability and a low fouling tendency the membranes can be operated at low transmembrane pressures and low cross flow velocities. This strategy helps to reduce operation costs and save energy (“low feed, low pressure”). The proposed project will address a crucial point in terms of a more extended use of membrane filtration technologies in water purification: the ratio between active filtration surface and module size. Besides overall ordinary requirements in membrane filtration like long term stability, appropriate membrane price, high selectivity, high flux/pressure ratio, low energy demand for cross-flow-filtration and low membrane cleaning frequency this parameter will be of vital importance for the implementation of ceramic membrane technique in a large scale.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

High-tech membranes purify water

Descrizione progetto (Article)

The 'Fouling resistant ceramic honeycomb nanofilters for efficient water treatment' (http://www.cerawater.eu/ (CERAWATER)) project developed innovative membranes. They featured greatly increased surface area and longer working life. In addition, the membrane price per membrane area was considerably reduced.

A nano-filtration coating enables surface water to be filtered directly and used as drinking water with the help of a low-volume, low-energy filtration process. Furthermore, the ceramic material is resistant to fouling, resulting in lower operating costs and less time lost for membrane cleaning.

The membrane is strong enough to support back flushing during cleaning and sterilisation with chemicals or hot steam. Lower maintenance requirements will result in less cleaning chemicals being needed and therefore disposed of. The membrane can also operate at low pressure thanks to its high permeability and low fouling tendency, thereby saving energy and reducing operation costs.

CERAWATER can be used to provide emergency water supply and local water treatment, as well as for large-scale production of drinking water through the filtration of surface water. The membrane can also be used for treating wastewater from specific processes characterised by high temperatures, extreme PH values, aggressive chemicals and/or extreme fouling behaviour.

Successful development of the CERAWATER nanofilter will help the European water purification sector to be more sustainable, reduce costs and develop its products and services. This will enable the industry to become more competitive in the global marketplace.