Removal of organic pollutants from gaseous and liquid effluent streams by membranes

In recent years membrane separation technology has found increasing application in the treatment of industrial effluent streams. Many wastewater and waste air treatment procedures today involve collection of many streams and treatment of the combined stream with conventional technology (e.g., precipitation, filtration, biological treatment, adsorption). However as discharge regulations are changed and the allowable maximum contaminant levels are reduced for any potentially hazardous chemicals, these treatment practices must be modified. Hazardous chemicals must be removed at the generation source, thereby allowing for recycle or reuse of the chemicals in the process. Membrane processes will be ideal for many of these point-of-generation treatment systems. Membrane processes have several advantages over conventional technology for this application, including the following. 1) Membrane systems have simple designs. 2) Membrane systems are modular in nature, making expansion of systems easy. 3) Membrane systems often use less energy than conventional treatment systems. 4) Membrane systems have potentially lower capital and operating costs than conventional treatment systems. In this paper three examples for the application of different membrane systems for the treatment of effluent streams will be given.