Grantee Research Project Results
2012 Progress Report: Enabling Potable Reuse Of Wastewater Using Forward Osmosis: A Sustainable And Affordable Alternative To Reverse Osmosis
EPA Grant Number: R834872Title: Enabling Potable Reuse Of Wastewater Using Forward Osmosis: A Sustainable And Affordable Alternative To Reverse Osmosis
Investigators: McCutcheon, Jeffrey R
Institution: University of Connecticut
EPA Project Officer: Packard, Benjamin H
Project Period: June 1, 2011 through May 31, 2016
Project Period Covered by this Report: June 1, 2012 through May 31,2013
Project Amount: $300,000
RFA: Advancing Public Health Protection through Water Infrastructure Sustainability (2009) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Drinking Water , Water
Objective:
This project aims to evaluate the promise of forward osmosis (FO) as a technology to enable direct potable reuse of water. FO is an emerging membrane technology platform that offers a low-cost alternative to reverse osmosis (RO) as a means of recapturing wastewater for direct potable reuse. The barriers to direct potable reuse are great, mostly stemming from the lack of guaranteed removal of contaminants that can cause harm to humans even at low levels when exposure is chronic. The goal of this project is to develop new membranes that function in FO and test those membranes for removal of various contaminants.Progress Summary:
After year 2, we have continued to develop three new membrane platforms for use in forward osmosis:
- Platform 1: Nanofiber supported thin-film composite (TFC) membranes
- Platform 2: Polydopamine modified RO membranes for forward osmosis
- Platform 3: Nylon 6,6 supported TFC membrane
This report has demonstrated substantial progress on this Early Career award project by many metrics. Significant progress is noted by not only the data, but also the presentations and overall dissemination of the work. We have laid the groundwork for substantial improvements in membrane performance on all of the platforms presented.
- The development of three new membrane platforms designed for forward osmosis
- Two Ph.D. students trained
- Two undergraduate students trained
- Three Invention disclosures, two of which have become provisional patents
Future Activities:
The plan for the period starting 6/1/2013 and ending 5/31/2014 will be to continue developing these membrane platforms and to publish their performance results in short order. Each platform is progressing well at the time of this report. The PI also will be continuing his dissemination through invited talks and seminars at numerous venues, including conferences and university seminar series.
- Optimization of membrane fabrication procedure;
- Development of alternative materials for membranes designed for forward osmosis;
- Elucidating transport mechanisms that could impact trace contaminant removal during wastewater reuse; and
- Broad dissemination of work through refereed publications and presentations at conferences and seminar series.
Journal Articles on this Report : 7 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
| Other project views: | All 82 publications | 14 publications in selected types | All 12 journal articles |
|---|
| Type | Citation | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Bui N-N, Lind ML, Hoek EMV, McCutcheon JR. Electrospun supported thin film composite membranes for engineered osmosis. Journal of Membrane Science 2011;385-386:10-19. |
R834872 (2011) R834872 (2012) R834872 (2013) R834872 (2014) R834872 (Final) |
Exit Exit Exit |
|
|
Bui N-N, McCutcheon JR. Hydrophilic nanofibers as new supports for thin film composite membranes for engineered osmosis. Environmental Science & Technology 2013;47(3):1761-1769. |
R834872 (2012) R834872 (2013) R834872 (2014) R834872 (Final) |
Exit Exit |
|
|
Huang L, Bui N-N, Manickam SS, McCutcheon JR. Controlling electrospun nanofiber morphology and mechanical properties using humidity. Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics 2011;49(24):1734-1744. |
R834872 (2011) R834872 (2012) R834872 (2013) R834872 (2014) R834872 (Final) |
Exit Exit |
|
|
Huang L, Manickam SS, McCutcheon JR. Increasing strength of electrospun nanofiber membranes for water filtration using solvent vapor. Journal of Membrane Science 2013;436:213-220. |
R834872 (2012) R834872 (2013) R834872 (2014) R834872 (Final) |
Exit Exit Exit |
|
|
Huang L, Bui N-N, Meyering MT, Hamlin TJ, McCutcheon JR. Novel hydrophilic nylon 6,6 microfiltration membrane supported thin film composite membranes for engineered osmosis. Journal of Membrane Science 2013;437:141-149. |
R834872 (2012) R834872 (2013) R834872 (2014) R834872 (Final) |
Exit Exit Exit |
|
|
Manickam SS, McCutcheon JR. Characterization of polymeric nonwovens using porosimetry, porometry and X-ray computed tomography. Journal of Membrane Science 2012;407-408:108-115. |
R834872 (2012) |
Exit Exit Exit |
|
|
McCutcheon JR, Wang R. Osmotic processes for a sustainable 21st century—guest editorial. Desalination 2013:312:1. |
R834872 (2012) R834872 (2013) R834872 (2014) R834872 (Final) |
Exit Exit Exit |
Supplemental Keywords:
Forward osmosis, reverse osmosis, engineered osmosis, membrane, thin film composite, nanofiber, electrospinning, wastewaterRelevant Websites:
Jeffrey McCutcheon | Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering ExitProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.