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Dr. Francesca Macedonio
Institute on Membrane Technology – National Research Council (ITM-CNR), Via P. Bucci, c/o University of Calabria, Cubo 17/C, 87036 Rende (CS), Italy

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0 membrane contactors
0 membrane distillation
0 membrane crystallization
0 membrane transport phenomena
0 Membrane systems for desalination

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membrane distillation
membrane crystallization
Membrane systems for desalination
Membrane systems for wastewater treatment
Membrane condenser
membrane contactors

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Journal article
Published: 02 August 2021 in Water Research
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Water scarcity forces the science to find the most environmentally friendly propulsion technology for supplying plentiful freshwater at low energy costs. Membrane Distillation well meets criteria of eco-friendly management of natural resources, but it is not yet competitive on scale. Herein, we use a dichalchogenide compound (Bi2Te3) as a conceivable source to accelerate the redesign of advanced membranes technologies such as thermally driven membrane distillation. A procedure based on assisted dispersant liquid phase exfoliation is used to fill PVDF membranes. Key insights are gained in the crucial role of this topological material confined in hydrophobic membranes dedicated to recovery of freshwater from synthetic seawater. Intensified water flux together with reduced energy consumption is obtained into one pot, thereby gathering ultrafast production and thermal efficiency in a single device. Bi2Te3-enabled membranes show ability to reduce the resistance to mass transfer while high resistance to heat loss is opposite. Permeate flux is kept stable and salt rejection is higher than 99.99% during 23 h-MD test. Our results confirm the effectiveness of chalcogenides as frontier materials for new-concept water desalination through breakthrough thermally-driven membrane distillation, which is regarded as a new low-energy and sustainable solution to address the growing demand for access to freshwater.

ACS Style

M. Frappa; A.E. Del Rio Castillo; F. Macedonio; G. Di Luca; E. Drioli; A. Gugliuzza. Exfoliated Bi2Te3-enabled membranes for new concept water desalination: Freshwater production meets new routes. Water Research 2021, 203, 117503 .

AMA Style

M. Frappa, A.E. Del Rio Castillo, F. Macedonio, G. Di Luca, E. Drioli, A. Gugliuzza. Exfoliated Bi2Te3-enabled membranes for new concept water desalination: Freshwater production meets new routes. Water Research. 2021; 203 ():117503.

Chicago/Turabian Style

M. Frappa; A.E. Del Rio Castillo; F. Macedonio; G. Di Luca; E. Drioli; A. Gugliuzza. 2021. "Exfoliated Bi2Te3-enabled membranes for new concept water desalination: Freshwater production meets new routes." Water Research 203, no. : 117503.

Journal article
Published: 23 June 2021 in Separation and Purification Technology
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The replacement of the toxic solvents with non-toxic equivalents attracts a great attention in membrane preparation and application processes. The purpose of this work is to study the preparation of poly(vinylidene fluoride-hexafluoropropylene) P(VDF-HFP) flat sheet membranes by non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) using Tamisolve® as a non-toxic solvent, for membrane distillation (MD) and membrane crystallization (MCr) applications. The prepared porous P(VDF-HFP) membranes were fully characterized in terms of morphology, porosity, thickness, pore-size, contact angle and pure water permeability (PWP). The effect of additive(s) and polymer content were investigated. Moreover, preliminary DCMD and MCr tests were carried out and the achieved results indicate the good performance of the prepared flat sheet membranes in terms of permeate flux and salt rejection in comparison to a commercial PVDF membrane. The obtained results confirmed the ability of the eco-friendly Tamisolve® NxG to compete with the highly toxic diluents usually used in membrane fabrication by phase inversion method.

ACS Style

Safa Saïdi; Francesca Macedonio; Francesca Russo; Chiraz Hannachi; Béchir Hamrouni; Enrico Drioli; Alberto Figoli. Preparation and characterization of hydrophobic P(VDF-HFP) flat sheet membranes using Tamisolve® NxG solvent for the treatment of saline water by direct contact membrane distillation and membrane crystallization. Separation and Purification Technology 2021, 275, 119144 .

AMA Style

Safa Saïdi, Francesca Macedonio, Francesca Russo, Chiraz Hannachi, Béchir Hamrouni, Enrico Drioli, Alberto Figoli. Preparation and characterization of hydrophobic P(VDF-HFP) flat sheet membranes using Tamisolve® NxG solvent for the treatment of saline water by direct contact membrane distillation and membrane crystallization. Separation and Purification Technology. 2021; 275 ():119144.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Safa Saïdi; Francesca Macedonio; Francesca Russo; Chiraz Hannachi; Béchir Hamrouni; Enrico Drioli; Alberto Figoli. 2021. "Preparation and characterization of hydrophobic P(VDF-HFP) flat sheet membranes using Tamisolve® NxG solvent for the treatment of saline water by direct contact membrane distillation and membrane crystallization." Separation and Purification Technology 275, no. : 119144.

Journal article
Published: 16 June 2021 in Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering
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Exergy analyses are becoming important tools in identifying the less efficient components of plants through the evaluation of the energy lost in entropy production. In this work, this type of analysis was considered for desalination plants based on membrane operations, with specific emphasis on membrane distillation and membrane crystallization for the improvement of the water recovery factor and the recovery of valuable salts from produced brines. The state of the art in the field was firstly presented and discussed. In all literature works, the thermal supply was the highest contributor to exergy losses. However, the use of waste heat or renewable energies can significantly improve the exergy efficiency of the process, as the feed is heated by the available source and enters the process already at the desired temperature. Furthermore, it resulted that the gain for the sale of salts produced by membrane crystallization was able to cover the desalination costs, even without waste heat availability. Then, the exergy analysis of membrane distillation (MD) and membrane crystallization (MCr) working on four different feeds was experimentally carried out. Commercial modules equipped with capillary polypropylene membranes (0.2 µm pore size) were used at fixed feed temperature and flow rate. A high exergy efficiency (72%) was obtained with the Synthetic RO feed (79.9 g/L), together with a high water recovery factor (79%) and brine concentration (around 476 g/L).

ACS Style

F. Macedonio; A. Criscuoli; L. Gzara; M. Albeirutty; E. Drioli. Water and salts recovery from desalination brines: An exergy evaluation. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 2021, 9, 105884 .

AMA Style

F. Macedonio, A. Criscuoli, L. Gzara, M. Albeirutty, E. Drioli. Water and salts recovery from desalination brines: An exergy evaluation. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering. 2021; 9 (5):105884.

Chicago/Turabian Style

F. Macedonio; A. Criscuoli; L. Gzara; M. Albeirutty; E. Drioli. 2021. "Water and salts recovery from desalination brines: An exergy evaluation." Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering 9, no. 5: 105884.

Journal article
Published: 21 April 2021 in Membranes
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Membrane crystallization (MCr) is a promising and innovative process for the recovery of freshwater from seawater and for the production of salt crystals from the brine streams of desalination plants. In the present work, composite polymeric membranes for membrane crystallization were fabricated using graphene and bismuth telluride inks prepared according to the wet-jet milling (WJM) technology. A comparison between PVDF-based membranes containing a few layers of graphene or bismuth telluride and PVDF-pristine membranes was carried out. Among the 2D composite membranes, PVDF with bismuth telluride at higher concentration (7%) exhibited the highest flux (about 3.9 L∙m−2h−1, in MCr experiments performed with 5 M NaCl solution as feed, and at a temperature of 34 ± 0.2 °C at the feed side and 11 ± 0.2 °C at the permeate side). The confinement of graphene and bismuth telluride in PVDF membranes produced more uniform NaCl crystals with respect to the pristine PVDF membrane, especially in the case of few-layer graphene. All the membranes showed rejection equal to or higher than 99.9% (up to 99.99% in the case of the membrane with graphene). The high rejection together with the good trans-membrane flux confirmed the interesting performance of the process, without any wetting phenomena, at least during the performed crystallization tests.

ACS Style

Mirko Frappa; Francesca Macedonio; Annarosa Gugliuzza; Wanqin Jin; Enrico Drioli. Performance of PVDF Based Membranes with 2D Materials for Membrane Assisted-Crystallization Process. Membranes 2021, 11, 302 .

AMA Style

Mirko Frappa, Francesca Macedonio, Annarosa Gugliuzza, Wanqin Jin, Enrico Drioli. Performance of PVDF Based Membranes with 2D Materials for Membrane Assisted-Crystallization Process. Membranes. 2021; 11 (5):302.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Mirko Frappa; Francesca Macedonio; Annarosa Gugliuzza; Wanqin Jin; Enrico Drioli. 2021. "Performance of PVDF Based Membranes with 2D Materials for Membrane Assisted-Crystallization Process." Membranes 11, no. 5: 302.

Journal article
Published: 24 March 2021 in Membranes
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The formation of heat stable salts (HSS) during the natural gas sweetening process by amine solvent causes many problems such as corrosion, foaming, capacity reduction, and amine loss. A modeling study was carried out for the removal of HSS ions from amine solution using nanofiltration (NF) membrane process that ensures the reuse of amine solution for gas sweetening. This model studies the physics of the nanofiltration process by adjusting and investigating pore radius, the effects of membrane charge, and other membrane characteristics. In this paper, the performance of the ternary ions was investigated during the removal process from methyl di-ethanol amine solution by the nanofiltration membrane process. Correlation between feed concentration and permeate concentration, using experimental results with mathematical correlation as Ci,p = f (Ci,f) was used in modeling. The results showed that the calculated data from the model provided a good agreement with experimental results (R2 = 0.90–0.75). Also, the effect of operating conditions (including feed pressure and feed flow rate on ions rejection and recovery ratio across the flat-sheet membrane) was studied. The results showed that the recovery and rejection ratios of the NF membrane depend on the driving pressure across the membrane. While the driving pressure is affected by the feed flow conditions and feed pressure.

ACS Style

Asma Ghorbani; Behrouz Bayati; Enrico Drioli; Francesca Macedonio; Tavan Kikhavani; Mirko Frappa. Modeling of Nanofiltration Process Using DSPM-DE Model for Purification of Amine Solution. Membranes 2021, 11, 230 .

AMA Style

Asma Ghorbani, Behrouz Bayati, Enrico Drioli, Francesca Macedonio, Tavan Kikhavani, Mirko Frappa. Modeling of Nanofiltration Process Using DSPM-DE Model for Purification of Amine Solution. Membranes. 2021; 11 (4):230.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Asma Ghorbani; Behrouz Bayati; Enrico Drioli; Francesca Macedonio; Tavan Kikhavani; Mirko Frappa. 2021. "Modeling of Nanofiltration Process Using DSPM-DE Model for Purification of Amine Solution." Membranes 11, no. 4: 230.

Review article
Published: 19 February 2021 in Journal of Membrane Science
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Space engineering focuses on the design of technical solutions for deep Space exploration. The main requirements, particularly in long-duration manned missions, deal with the minimization of the volume, weight, power consumption and cost. In addition, safe procedures are essential. These issues can be optimally addressed by Membrane technologies. Membrane engineering has demonstrated on Earth several advantages in the logic of Process Intensification related to the intrinsic low footprint, modularity, high efficiency and low energy consumption. Space exploration offers new opportunities for science and technology. Great efforts are devoted towards innovative solutions that could be also useful for our daily life. Significant challenges already tackled by membrane operations such as water desalination, separation of small molecules such as gases, can be translated to solve special challenges of Space missions. Membrane modules can be applied to supply freshwater and energy, as well as to the management of wastes and for the atmosphere cleaning that are among the most urgent needs in human spacecrafts. This review discusses the membrane share in the Space engineering, starting from successful applications on Earth and focusing on water treatment and on CO2 separation and conversion, addressing also In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) applications in extra-terrestrial environments.

ACS Style

P. Bernardo; A. Iulianelli; F. Macedonio; E. Drioli. Membrane technologies for space engineering. Journal of Membrane Science 2021, 626, 119177 .

AMA Style

P. Bernardo, A. Iulianelli, F. Macedonio, E. Drioli. Membrane technologies for space engineering. Journal of Membrane Science. 2021; 626 ():119177.

Chicago/Turabian Style

P. Bernardo; A. Iulianelli; F. Macedonio; E. Drioli. 2021. "Membrane technologies for space engineering." Journal of Membrane Science 626, no. : 119177.

Paper
Published: 17 August 2020 in Nanoscale Advances
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Better-quality few-layer graphene is prepared for the enhanced performance of nanocomposite membranes dedicated to desalination through a membrane distillation process.

ACS Style

Mirko Frappa; Antonio Esau Del Rio Castillo; Francesca Macedonio; Antonio Politano; Enrico Drioli; Francesco Bonaccorso; Vittorio Pellegrini; Annarosa Gugliuzza. A few-layer graphene for advanced composite PVDF membranes dedicated to water desalination: a comparative study. Nanoscale Advances 2020, 2, 4728 -4739.

AMA Style

Mirko Frappa, Antonio Esau Del Rio Castillo, Francesca Macedonio, Antonio Politano, Enrico Drioli, Francesco Bonaccorso, Vittorio Pellegrini, Annarosa Gugliuzza. A few-layer graphene for advanced composite PVDF membranes dedicated to water desalination: a comparative study. Nanoscale Advances. 2020; 2 (10):4728-4739.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Mirko Frappa; Antonio Esau Del Rio Castillo; Francesca Macedonio; Antonio Politano; Enrico Drioli; Francesco Bonaccorso; Vittorio Pellegrini; Annarosa Gugliuzza. 2020. "A few-layer graphene for advanced composite PVDF membranes dedicated to water desalination: a comparative study." Nanoscale Advances 2, no. 10: 4728-4739.

Journal article
Published: 28 April 2020 in Separation and Purification Technology
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Membrane distillation (MD) is a promising technology for the treatment of highly saline waters. However, there are few microporous hydrophobic membranes, available as hollow fibers and flat sheets, properly manufactured for MD. In the present paper, highly hydrophobic Hyflon/PVDF composite hollow fiber membranes were prepared by coating three kinds of Hyflon AD on poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membranes. The PVDF hollow fiber membranes were prepared via two different techniques (i.e. NIPS and TIPS). The six different Hyflon AD/PVDF composite membranes were characterized and tested in MD, both in direct contact (DCMD) and vacuum (VMD) configuration. The testing of the membranes in VMD showed that the performance of the different membranes was, as expected, strongly dependent on pore size, porosity, liquid entry pressure (LEP) and contact angle (Φ). DCMD experiments revealed that another parameter influencing the membrane performance is the thickness because it allows reducing the heat loss due to conduction through the membrane.

ACS Style

Zhaoliang Cui; Jun Pan; Zhaohui Wang; M. Frappa; E. Drioli; F. Macedonio. Hyflon/PVDF membranes prepared by NIPS and TIPS: Comparison in MD performance. Separation and Purification Technology 2020, 247, 116992 .

AMA Style

Zhaoliang Cui, Jun Pan, Zhaohui Wang, M. Frappa, E. Drioli, F. Macedonio. Hyflon/PVDF membranes prepared by NIPS and TIPS: Comparison in MD performance. Separation and Purification Technology. 2020; 247 ():116992.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Zhaoliang Cui; Jun Pan; Zhaohui Wang; M. Frappa; E. Drioli; F. Macedonio. 2020. "Hyflon/PVDF membranes prepared by NIPS and TIPS: Comparison in MD performance." Separation and Purification Technology 247, no. : 116992.

Paper
Published: 28 April 2020 in Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology
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Advanced graphene engineered membranes designed for sustainable crystallization of high-quality crystals from hypersaline water.

ACS Style

Maria Luisa Perrotta; Francesca Macedonio; Elena Tocci; Lidietta Giorno; Enrico Drioli; Annarosa Gugliuzza. Graphene stimulates the nucleation and growth rate of NaCl crystals from hypersaline solution via membrane crystallization. Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology 2020, 6, 1723 -1736.

AMA Style

Maria Luisa Perrotta, Francesca Macedonio, Elena Tocci, Lidietta Giorno, Enrico Drioli, Annarosa Gugliuzza. Graphene stimulates the nucleation and growth rate of NaCl crystals from hypersaline solution via membrane crystallization. Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology. 2020; 6 (6):1723-1736.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Maria Luisa Perrotta; Francesca Macedonio; Elena Tocci; Lidietta Giorno; Enrico Drioli; Annarosa Gugliuzza. 2020. "Graphene stimulates the nucleation and growth rate of NaCl crystals from hypersaline solution via membrane crystallization." Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology 6, no. 6: 1723-1736.

Paper
Published: 13 March 2020 in Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
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Atomistic simulations of graphene–PVDF membranes speeding up NaCl crystal nucleation and growth in comparison to the pristine PVDF membranes.

ACS Style

Maria Luisa Perrotta; Francesca Macedonio; Lidietta Giorno; Wanqin Jin; Enrico Drioli; Annarosa Gugliuzza; Elena Tocci. Molecular insights on NaCl crystal formation approaching PVDF membranes functionalized with graphene. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 2020, 22, 7817 -7827.

AMA Style

Maria Luisa Perrotta, Francesca Macedonio, Lidietta Giorno, Wanqin Jin, Enrico Drioli, Annarosa Gugliuzza, Elena Tocci. Molecular insights on NaCl crystal formation approaching PVDF membranes functionalized with graphene. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. 2020; 22 (15):7817-7827.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Maria Luisa Perrotta; Francesca Macedonio; Lidietta Giorno; Wanqin Jin; Enrico Drioli; Annarosa Gugliuzza; Elena Tocci. 2020. "Molecular insights on NaCl crystal formation approaching PVDF membranes functionalized with graphene." Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 22, no. 15: 7817-7827.

Journal article
Published: 22 November 2019 in Journal of Membrane Science
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Herein, we introduce a novel membrane-based process for lithium recovery and compare it to the conventional solar evaporation followed by chemical precipitation process. Conventional technologies have limitations to meet the recent demand for massive lithium production due to several drawbacks of solar evaporation. Recently, in order to reduce the dependency of solar evaporation, several technologies have been proposed such as precipitation, ion-exchange, liquid-liquid extraction, adsorption, and electrodialysis. We suggest a novel membrane-based lithium recovery process by combining membrane distillation (MD) and nanofiltration (NF) to concentrate a brine solution containing lithium and to remove divalent ions. The proposed membrane-based process was demonstrated to concentrate 100 ppm lithium solution in artificial brine to 1200 ppm lithium solution within several days and exhibited up to 60 times higher water flux (22.5 L m−2 h−1) than that of solar evaporation (0.37 L m−2 h−1 at 30 °C and 0.56 L m−2 h−1 at 50 °C). Moreover, the NF process can suppress crystal formation to prevent process failure while alleviating the massive chemical usage of the conventional process. As a result, the proposed membrane-based process showed a possibility to utilize the low concentration of lithium brine with one-tenth of capital cost, process time, and foot-print of the conventional process, and represented a competitive operating cost with the conventional process which can be reduced further by harnessing the waste heat from the industrial plants and solar energy.

ACS Style

Sang Hyun Park; Ji Hoon Kim; Sun Ju Moon; Jun Tae Jung; Ho Hyun Wang; Aamer Ali; Cejna Anna Quist-Jensen; Francesca Macedonio; Enrico Drioli; Young Moo Lee. Lithium recovery from artificial brine using energy-efficient membrane distillation and nanofiltration. Journal of Membrane Science 2019, 598, 117683 .

AMA Style

Sang Hyun Park, Ji Hoon Kim, Sun Ju Moon, Jun Tae Jung, Ho Hyun Wang, Aamer Ali, Cejna Anna Quist-Jensen, Francesca Macedonio, Enrico Drioli, Young Moo Lee. Lithium recovery from artificial brine using energy-efficient membrane distillation and nanofiltration. Journal of Membrane Science. 2019; 598 ():117683.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Sang Hyun Park; Ji Hoon Kim; Sun Ju Moon; Jun Tae Jung; Ho Hyun Wang; Aamer Ali; Cejna Anna Quist-Jensen; Francesca Macedonio; Enrico Drioli; Young Moo Lee. 2019. "Lithium recovery from artificial brine using energy-efficient membrane distillation and nanofiltration." Journal of Membrane Science 598, no. : 117683.

Journal article
Published: 01 November 2019 in Applied Energy
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ACS Style

Ramato Ashu Tufa; Ylenia Noviello; Gianluca Di Profio; Francesca Macedonio; Aamer Ali; Enrico Drioli; Enrica Fontananova; Karel Bouzek; Efrem Curcio. Integrated membrane distillation-reverse electrodialysis system for energy-efficient seawater desalination. Applied Energy 2019, 253, 1 .

AMA Style

Ramato Ashu Tufa, Ylenia Noviello, Gianluca Di Profio, Francesca Macedonio, Aamer Ali, Enrico Drioli, Enrica Fontananova, Karel Bouzek, Efrem Curcio. Integrated membrane distillation-reverse electrodialysis system for energy-efficient seawater desalination. Applied Energy. 2019; 253 ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ramato Ashu Tufa; Ylenia Noviello; Gianluca Di Profio; Francesca Macedonio; Aamer Ali; Enrico Drioli; Enrica Fontananova; Karel Bouzek; Efrem Curcio. 2019. "Integrated membrane distillation-reverse electrodialysis system for energy-efficient seawater desalination." Applied Energy 253, no. : 1.

Review
Published: 12 September 2019 in BMC Chemical Engineering
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The recent roadmap of SPIRE initiative includes the development of “new separation, extraction and pre-treatment technologies” as one of the “key actions” for boosting sustainability, enhancing the availability and quality of existing resources. Membrane condenser is an innovative technology that was recently investigated for the recovery of water vapor for waste gaseous streams, such as flue gas, biogas, cooling tower plumes, etc. Recently, it has been also proposed as pre-treatment unit for the reduction and control of contaminants in waste gaseous streams (SOx and NOx, VOCs, H2S, NH3, siloxanes, halides, particulates, organic pollutants). This perspective article reports recent progresses in the applications of the membrane condenser in the treatment of various gaseous streams for water recovery and contaminant control. After an overview of the operating principle, the membranes used, and the main results achieved, the work also proposes the role of this technology as pre-treatment stage to other separation technologies. The potentialities of the technology are also discussed aspiring to pave the way towards the development of an innovative technology where membrane condenser can cover a key role in redesigning the whole upgrading process.

ACS Style

Adele Brunetti; Francesca Macedonio; Giuseppe Barbieri; Enrico Drioli. Membrane condenser as emerging technology for water recovery and gas pre-treatment: current status and perspectives. BMC Chemical Engineering 2019, 1, 1 -15.

AMA Style

Adele Brunetti, Francesca Macedonio, Giuseppe Barbieri, Enrico Drioli. Membrane condenser as emerging technology for water recovery and gas pre-treatment: current status and perspectives. BMC Chemical Engineering. 2019; 1 (1):1-15.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Adele Brunetti; Francesca Macedonio; Giuseppe Barbieri; Enrico Drioli. 2019. "Membrane condenser as emerging technology for water recovery and gas pre-treatment: current status and perspectives." BMC Chemical Engineering 1, no. 1: 1-15.

Paper
Published: 23 April 2019 in Nanoscale
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Graphene-assisted water vapour transport for water desalination.

ACS Style

E. Gontarek; F. Macedonio; F. Militano; L. Giorno; M. Lieder; A. Politano; E. Drioli; A. Gugliuzza. Adsorption-assisted transport of water vapour in super-hydrophobic membranes filled with multilayer graphene platelets. Nanoscale 2019, 11, 11521 -11529.

AMA Style

E. Gontarek, F. Macedonio, F. Militano, L. Giorno, M. Lieder, A. Politano, E. Drioli, A. Gugliuzza. Adsorption-assisted transport of water vapour in super-hydrophobic membranes filled with multilayer graphene platelets. Nanoscale. 2019; 11 (24):11521-11529.

Chicago/Turabian Style

E. Gontarek; F. Macedonio; F. Militano; L. Giorno; M. Lieder; A. Politano; E. Drioli; A. Gugliuzza. 2019. "Adsorption-assisted transport of water vapour in super-hydrophobic membranes filled with multilayer graphene platelets." Nanoscale 11, no. 24: 11521-11529.

Journal article
Published: 25 March 2019 in Environmental Engineering Research
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ACS Style

Francesca Macedonio; Mirko Frappa; Adele Brunetti; Giuseppe Barbieri; Enrico Drioli. Recovery of water and contaminants from cooling tower plume. Environmental Engineering Research 2019, 25, 222 -229.

AMA Style

Francesca Macedonio, Mirko Frappa, Adele Brunetti, Giuseppe Barbieri, Enrico Drioli. Recovery of water and contaminants from cooling tower plume. Environmental Engineering Research. 2019; 25 (2):222-229.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Francesca Macedonio; Mirko Frappa; Adele Brunetti; Giuseppe Barbieri; Enrico Drioli. 2019. "Recovery of water and contaminants from cooling tower plume." Environmental Engineering Research 25, no. 2: 222-229.

Journal article
Published: 21 January 2019 in Desalination
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Performance of two commercial membranes, in flat sheet (FS) and capillary (Cap) configurations, has been analyzed for desalination through membrane distillation (MD). The performance of the membranes for large scale applications has been compared in terms of flux, pressure drop, pore size requirements and specific thermal and electric energy consumption. The calculations demonstrate that the FS membrane, characterized by relatively (~11 times) lower thickness, larger (33%) pore size and high (~20%) overall porosity compared to the Cap membrane, performs better in terms of trans-membrane flux and specific thermal energy consumption (maximum 36% less specific thermal energy consumption compared to the Cap membrane). However, the electric energy consumption associated with pumping the fluid inside the flow channels for FS membrane was nearly two orders of magnitudes higher than the Cap membrane. Furthermore, when pore size and contact angle for membranes in the two configurations are the same, the FS membranes are more prone to wetting than the Cap membrane when operating under the same conditions. The study also demonstrates that for a given module size and operating conditions, there exists an optimum freshwater recovery factor at which specific thermal energy consumption is the minimum.

ACS Style

Aamer Ali; Alessandra Criscuoli; Francesca Macedonio; Enrico Drioli. A comparative analysis of flat sheet and capillary membranes for membrane distillation applications. Desalination 2019, 456, 1 -12.

AMA Style

Aamer Ali, Alessandra Criscuoli, Francesca Macedonio, Enrico Drioli. A comparative analysis of flat sheet and capillary membranes for membrane distillation applications. Desalination. 2019; 456 ():1-12.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Aamer Ali; Alessandra Criscuoli; Francesca Macedonio; Enrico Drioli. 2019. "A comparative analysis of flat sheet and capillary membranes for membrane distillation applications." Desalination 456, no. : 1-12.

Journal article
Published: 01 January 2019 in Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers
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An important contribution to the realization of a sustainable industrial development can be given by membrane operations. They can contribute to redesign process engineering in the logic of process intensification. In particular, the results achieved with membrane-assisted crystallization and membrane-assisted condensation show as these innovative membrane operations can overcome the performance of traditional operations: in the case of MCr, the possibility to produce specific polymorphs of crystals; in the case of the condenser, the control of the concentration of condensable contaminants in the recovered liquid stream. These two innovative membrane operations can bring interesting results for “water recovery from sky” and “water and mineral extraction from the sea”.

ACS Style

Cejna Anna Quist-Jensen; Aamer Ali; Enrico Drioli; Francesca Macedonio. Perspectives on mining from sea and other alternative strategies for minerals and water recovery – The development of novel membrane operations. Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers 2019, 94, 129 -134.

AMA Style

Cejna Anna Quist-Jensen, Aamer Ali, Enrico Drioli, Francesca Macedonio. Perspectives on mining from sea and other alternative strategies for minerals and water recovery – The development of novel membrane operations. Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers. 2019; 94 ():129-134.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Cejna Anna Quist-Jensen; Aamer Ali; Enrico Drioli; Francesca Macedonio. 2019. "Perspectives on mining from sea and other alternative strategies for minerals and water recovery – The development of novel membrane operations." Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers 94, no. : 129-134.

Journal article
Published: 26 November 2018 in Membranes
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An integrated membrane process for the treatment of wastewaters from a flue gas desulfurization (FGD) plant was implemented on a laboratory scale to reduce their salt content and to produce a water stream to be recycled in the power industry. The process is based on a preliminary pretreatment of FGD wastewaters, which includes chemical softening and ultrafiltration (UF) to remove Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions as well as organic compounds. The pretreated wastewaters were submitted to a reverse osmosis (RO) step to separate salts from water. The RO retentate was finally submitted to a membrane distillation (MD) step to extract more water, thus increasing the total water recovery factor while producing a high-purity permeate stream. The performance of RO and MD membranes was evaluated by calculating salts rejection, permeate flux, fouling index, and water recovery. The investigated integrated system allowed a total recovery factor of about 94% to be reached, with a consequent reduction of the volume of FGD wastewater to be disposed, and an MD permeate stream with an electrical conductivity of 80 μS/cm, able to be reused in the power plant, with a saving in fresh water demand.

ACS Style

Carmela Conidi; Francesca Macedonio; Aamer Ali; Alfredo Cassano; Alessandra Criscuoli; Pietro Argurio; Enrico Drioli. Treatment of Flue Gas Desulfurization Wastewater by an Integrated Membrane-Based Process for Approaching Zero Liquid Discharge. Membranes 2018, 8, 117 .

AMA Style

Carmela Conidi, Francesca Macedonio, Aamer Ali, Alfredo Cassano, Alessandra Criscuoli, Pietro Argurio, Enrico Drioli. Treatment of Flue Gas Desulfurization Wastewater by an Integrated Membrane-Based Process for Approaching Zero Liquid Discharge. Membranes. 2018; 8 (4):117.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Carmela Conidi; Francesca Macedonio; Aamer Ali; Alfredo Cassano; Alessandra Criscuoli; Pietro Argurio; Enrico Drioli. 2018. "Treatment of Flue Gas Desulfurization Wastewater by an Integrated Membrane-Based Process for Approaching Zero Liquid Discharge." Membranes 8, no. 4: 117.

Journal article
Published: 02 November 2018 in Applied Sciences
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Membrane-assisted crystallization, aiming to induce supersaturation in a solution, has been successfully tested in the crystallization of ionic salts, low molecular organic acids, and proteins. Membrane crystallization is an emerging membrane process with the capability to simultaneously extract fresh water and valuable components from various streams. Successful application of crystallization for produced water treatment, seawater desalination, and salt recovery has been demonstrated. Recently, membrane crystallization has been developed to recover valuable minerals from highly concentrated solutions, since the recovery of high-quality minerals is expected to impact agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and household activities. In this work, molecular dynamics simulations were used to study the crystal nucleation and growth of sodium chloride in bulk and with hydrophobic polymer surfaces of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and polypropylene (PP) at a supersaturated concentration of salt. In parallel, membrane crystallization experiments were performed utilizing the same polymeric membranes in order to compare the experimental results with the computational ones. Moreover, the comparison in terms of nucleation time between the crystallization of sodium chloride (NaCl) using the traditional evaporation process and the membrane-assisted crystallization process was performed. Here, with an integrated experimental–computational approach, we demonstrate that the PVDF and PP membranes assist the crystal growth for NaCl, speeding up crystal nucleation in comparison to the bulk solution and leading to smaller and regularly structured face-centered cubic lattice NaCl crystals. This results in a mutual validation between theoretical data and experimental findings and provides the stimuli to investigate other mono and bivalent crystals with a new class of materials in advanced membrane separations.

ACS Style

Jheng-Han Tsai; Maria Luisa Perrotta; Annarosa Gugliuzza; Francesca Macedonio; Lidietta Giorno; Enrico Drioli; Kuo-Lun Tung; Elena Tocci. Membrane-Assisted Crystallization: A Molecular View of NaCl Nucleation and Growth. Applied Sciences 2018, 8, 2145 .

AMA Style

Jheng-Han Tsai, Maria Luisa Perrotta, Annarosa Gugliuzza, Francesca Macedonio, Lidietta Giorno, Enrico Drioli, Kuo-Lun Tung, Elena Tocci. Membrane-Assisted Crystallization: A Molecular View of NaCl Nucleation and Growth. Applied Sciences. 2018; 8 (11):2145.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Jheng-Han Tsai; Maria Luisa Perrotta; Annarosa Gugliuzza; Francesca Macedonio; Lidietta Giorno; Enrico Drioli; Kuo-Lun Tung; Elena Tocci. 2018. "Membrane-Assisted Crystallization: A Molecular View of NaCl Nucleation and Growth." Applied Sciences 8, no. 11: 2145.

Journal article
Published: 01 August 2018 in Desalination
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Throughout the world an intensified use of desalination for reducing current and future water scarcity is observed. Despite the enormous benefits of desalination processes, improvements are still required in terms of lower desalted water cost, higher productivity, better water quality and enhanced eco-sustainability of the desalination process. Environmentally sensitive concentrate management is today recognized as a significant hurdle to extensive implementation of desalination technologies. Membrane assisted crystallization (MCr) offers a suitable solution for redesigning desalination process through the treatment of brine streams for the production of salts and water. In this work, three different Hyflon/polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) composite membranes were tested in MCr operations. The coating of PVDF membranes with Hyflon allowed increasing membrane surface hydrophobicity. The latter is the membrane essential characteristic when MCr is implemented according direct contact membrane distillation configuration like in the present work. The aim was to analyze the MCr performance in terms of membrane chemical–physical properties and process operating conditions.

ACS Style

Zhaoliang Cui; Xue Li; Yongxing Zhang; Zhaohui Wang; Annarosa Gugliuzza; Francesca Militano; Enrico Drioli; Francesca Macedonio. Testing of three different PVDF membranes in membrane assisted-crystallization process: Influence of membrane structural-properties on process performance. Desalination 2018, 440, 68 -77.

AMA Style

Zhaoliang Cui, Xue Li, Yongxing Zhang, Zhaohui Wang, Annarosa Gugliuzza, Francesca Militano, Enrico Drioli, Francesca Macedonio. Testing of three different PVDF membranes in membrane assisted-crystallization process: Influence of membrane structural-properties on process performance. Desalination. 2018; 440 ():68-77.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Zhaoliang Cui; Xue Li; Yongxing Zhang; Zhaohui Wang; Annarosa Gugliuzza; Francesca Militano; Enrico Drioli; Francesca Macedonio. 2018. "Testing of three different PVDF membranes in membrane assisted-crystallization process: Influence of membrane structural-properties on process performance." Desalination 440, no. : 68-77.