Multifunctional thin film nanocomposite membranes for water treatment

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According to the Global Risks Report issued by the World Economic Forum in 2015, a crisis in water supply is the foremost global risk to the development of societies over the next decade. Today, more than 1 billion people around the world don't have access to clean, safe drinking water. Global water requirements are projected to be pushed beyond sustainable water supplies by 40% by 2030. The principle manifestation of the water crisis is overuse and pollution of water resources in agriculture, industry, and domestic sectors. With finite accessible freshwater resources (0.007% of the planet's water), the only viable option to sustainable economic growth is the treatment of wastewater. Indeed, eliminating legacy tailing waste is a top global priority, as water is rapidly becoming the crucial commodity in many applications. ******Canada's oil sands industry is an example of an inefficient water management as it uses 2-4 barrels of water for extraction of one barrel of oil in open-pit mining operation. This heavy fresh water consumer threatens the water security of Canada, a country that holds approximately 20% of the world freshwater. Hence, the sustainability of Canada's water resources greatly depends on the treatment of process-affected water. Membrane separation processes offer a promising alternative to current energy- and material-intensive processes such as distillation, ion exchange, and lime softener by providing higher separation efficiency and a smaller footprint. However, high susceptibility of membranes to fouling and their non-switchable physicochemical properties to environmental triggers creates challenges which are the focus of this research program. ******The goal of the proposed research is to develop novel stimuli-responsive thin film nanocomposite membranes, which alter their permeation characteristics and fouling properties based on external stimuli, such as impulsive change in pH, temperature, ionic strength and electric field. This will be accomplished first by embedding functional nanomaterials within the polymer matrix, then inducing responsiveness via incorporating functional polymers to the surface. The general idea is to induce electrical, surface charge, hydrophilic and molecular sieve properties of both nanoparticles and responsive polymers to the base membrane. The synthesized membranes, in addition to acting as a separation barrier, (i) selectively oxidize harmful organic matter in the feed, (ii) display antifouling properties that can be tuned for different types of feed, and (iii) possess tunable separation characteristics. The membrane processes coupled with these novel membranes can contribute to Canada's water management initiatives via novel separation technologies.