School of Mechanical Engineering Inna Horovitz
School of Mechanical Engineering Seminar
Monday, April 24, 2017 at 14:00
Wolfson Building of Mechanical Engineering, Room 206
Application of nano-structured solar photocatalytic membrane reactor for water treatment
Inna Horovitz
PhD Student of Prof. Hadas Mamane and Prof. Dror Avisar
Microfiltration (MF, with pores in the 0.1-10 μm range) systems offer quick and selective separation of suspended particles, larger pathogenic micro-organisms while operating at low transmembrane pressure. However, a number of contaminants, including micro-pollutants and viruses, can only be poorly removed from water by MF alone. Combining membrane filtration and advanced oxidation processes (AOP) as photocatalysis can potentially provide high water quality in a single step. Photocatalysis, which is classified as a heterogeneous AOP, is a process where a semiconductor (catalyst) is activated with sunlight irradiation following formation of highly oxidative species on the catalytic surface. A hybrid photocatalytic membrane reactor (PMR) can address multiple functions besides traditional physical separation as degradation of organic pollutants, disinfection and self-antibiofouling action. In this seminar, the efficiency of N-doped TiO2-coated Al2O3 MF membranes for water treatment will be presented. The photocatalytic activity (PCA) and the impact of physical and operational parameters such as operation mode (surface vs. in-pore PCA), wavelength dependence and flow rate of the suggested PMR will be presented by following the degradation of environmentally persistent pharmaceutical carbamazepine. Removal of MS2 bacteriophage, a surrogate for pathogenic waterborne viruses, by the PMR will be presented as a study case for disinfection efficiency. Virus removal in different water qualities will be addressed and correlated to the physico-chemical properties of the virus and the membrane.