Development of Nanocomposite Membranes and Sustainable Processes for Water Treatment and Nutrient Reclamation

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Conventional water and wastewater technologies worldwide are being challenged with rapid growth of population and industrial activities, depletion of fresh water, identification of emerging contaminants and implementation of more stringent environmental regulations. On the other hand, momentum is gaining in recognizing wastewater as a "renewable" resource, presenting opportunities to create value-added products such as water, nutrients, and energy. Advances in treatment research, such as membrane filtration and advanced oxidation processes, have resulted in sound approaches to producing quality effluent from wastewater. However, these processes face challenges, including membrane fouling and generation of potentially carcinogenic disinfection byproducts. In the era of nanoscience and nanotechnology, novel materials inspired by these fields have tremendous potential for the development of promising technologies, yielding greater selectivity and lowering the cost of environmental applications. Extending treatment technologies for domestic sewage toward nutrient recovery from animal manure is also important, considering that animal manure contains generally higher nutrient loads. Therefore, there is a clear need to both develop and advance novel and existing technologies for drinking water production, desalination, and waste resource recovery. The objective of this research program is to develop novel materials and processes that improve efficiency and reduce energy consumption, through: (1) developing efficient nanomaterial based membrane processes for water and wastewater treatment, (2) refining processes to improve yields of value added products from waste. The outcome of this research program is expected to advance knowledge in cutting-edge water and wastewater treatment, lowering costs and creating safer products, provide physical and chemical resilient nanomaterial-based membrane technologies for water industries extending process life and lowering cleaning costs, and extend the field of wastewater treatment toward recovery and reuse of nutrients from wastes, allowing for production of higher quality nutrient products.