Technology Description: Water scarcity is an important issue worldwide especially in arid regions. Industries such as automotive battery factoring mining textile generate wastewater containing heavy metals. Heavy metals may accumulate in certain organs in human body resulting in diseases to death. Thus heavy metal pollution has drawn increasing attention throughout the world. Reverse osmosis (RO) and nanofiltration (NF) are commonly used membrane processes in heavy metal removal but they are generally in spiral wound/flat sheet configurations. Hollow fiber membranes are attractive because the membrane module provides self-mechanical support a much larger membrane area per unit membrane module volume and ease of handling during module fabrication and system operation. This technology relates to a newly developed hollow fiber nanofiltration membrane (polymeric) that is able to remove heavy metal ions from water. The tables below show the performance of different variations of the said membrane for heavy metal removal. Applications: Heavy metal removal from liquid streams
1) Excellent rejection to both positively and negatively charged heavy metal ions 2) Structurally stable at high pressures 3) High surface area to volume ratio due to hollow fiber configuration