17 Scope of Conventional Versus Advanced Technologies …
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17.2 Advantages
1. Separations are flexible and can be used for concentration and purification of a
large number of contaminants.
2. The MF and UF processes can separate particle species as per their size and thus
serve as highly efficient “sieves.”
3. There is no phase change involved as both feed and product streams remain in
the same physical phase, i.e., liquid form.
4. All the processes can function efficiently at low or room temperatures.
5. The energy required in these processes is low and hence are comparatively simple
to scale up.
6. Membranes needed for different filtration processes can be manufactured through
a highly precise and uniform approach.
17.3 Disadvantages
1. All the filtration processes are susceptible to membrane contamination effects
that lead to the reduction in infused flux.
2. The cleaning and regeneration schemes which are usually expensive are essential.
3. Flow rates used in filtration processes are high and this can damage sensitive
materials.
4. The cost of the equipment is also high.
The membrane manufacturing process has to be precisely controlled or else
wide pore size distribution may result in membranes, leading to poor separation
performance.
Nanotechnology Since the water industry is required to produce drinking water of
high quality, there is a need for the development of cost-effective and stable materials for meeting the challenges of providing the freshwater in sufficient amounts.
Nanotechnology is recently considered to be effective in solving water contamination problems related to water quality and quantity parameters. Nanoscale research
has made it possible to develop economically feasible and environmentally stable
treatment technologies for treating wastewater and meeting the increasing water quality standards. It has been found that nanotechnology can effectively address many
water quality issues by the use of varying types of nanoparticles (NPs) and/or also
nanofibers (Savage and Diallo 2005). In nanotechnology, materials of size smaller
than 100 nm are used in a single dimension which means at the levels of atoms and
molecules in comparison with other disciplines like engineering, materials science,
and chemistry, etc. (Masciangialo and Zhang 2003), Eijkel and Berg 2005). NPs
possess remarkably different physical, chemical, and biological properties mainly
because of their structure, high surface area-to-volume ratio that provides treatment
393
17.2 Advantages
1. Separations are flexible and can be used for concentration and purification of a
large number of contaminants.
2. The MF and UF processes can separate particle species as per their size and thus
serve as highly efficient “sieves.”
3. There is no phase change involved as both feed and product streams remain in
the same physical phase, i.e., liquid form.
4. All the processes can function efficiently at low or room temperatures.
5. The energy required in these processes is low and hence are comparatively simple
to scale up.
6. Membranes needed for different filtration processes can be manufactured through
a highly precise and uniform approach.
17.3 Disadvantages
1. All the filtration processes are susceptible to membrane contamination effects
that lead to the reduction in infused flux.
2. The cleaning and regeneration schemes which are usually expensive are essential.
3. Flow rates used in filtration processes are high and this can damage sensitive
materials.
4. The cost of the equipment is also high.
The membrane manufacturing process has to be precisely controlled or else
wide pore size distribution may result in membranes, leading to poor separation
performance.
Nanotechnology Since the water industry is required to produce drinking water of
high quality, there is a need for the development of cost-effective and stable materials for meeting the challenges of providing the freshwater in sufficient amounts.
Nanotechnology is recently considered to be effective in solving water contamination problems related to water quality and quantity parameters. Nanoscale research
has made it possible to develop economically feasible and environmentally stable
treatment technologies for treating wastewater and meeting the increasing water quality standards. It has been found that nanotechnology can effectively address many
water quality issues by the use of varying types of nanoparticles (NPs) and/or also
nanofibers (Savage and Diallo 2005). In nanotechnology, materials of size smaller
than 100 nm are used in a single dimension which means at the levels of atoms and
molecules in comparison with other disciplines like engineering, materials science,
and chemistry, etc. (Masciangialo and Zhang 2003), Eijkel and Berg 2005). NPs
possess remarkably different physical, chemical, and biological properties mainly
because of their structure, high surface area-to-volume ratio that provides treatment