Facile Fabrication of High-Performance Tight Ultrafiltration Membranes for Sustainable Textile Wastewater Management

Promovendus/a: Riri Liu

Promotor(en): Prof. dr. ir. Bart Van der Bruggen

The textile industry plays an important role in our daily lives, providing fabrics for clothing, home furnishings, and more. However, the rapid growth of this industry has also created serious environmental challenges. One major problem is the large amount of wastewater it produces, which often contains a mix of harmful dyes and salts. If released directly into nature, this polluted water can damage ecosystems and harm human health.

Traditional methods for cleaning this wastewater focus mainly on removing pollutants, but they miss the opportunity to recover useful materials like dyes and salts that could be reused. In this PhD research, new types of filtration membranes were developed to both clean the wastewater and allow valuable materials to be recovered in a sustainable way.

Three kinds of advanced membranes were designed using environmentally friendly materials and simple production techniques. The first type uses a natural polypeptide that helps filter out dyes while resisting bacteria growth. The second type uses a special metal-based coating that makes the membrane more water-friendly and better at separating dyes from salts. The third type combines two natural components to create a membrane that not only filters well but also helps prevent bacterial contamination.

Together, these new membranes could help the textile industry reduce its environmental impact, support recycling of valuable resources, and contribute to cleaner water for everyone.