Potential use of ultrafiltration (UF) membrane for remediation of metal contaminants

Water pollution by anthropogenic activities is a significant ecological problem. Ultrafiltration is a real method for purification of drinking water through treatment of wastewater from various industries, oil fields and refineries. In the context of various contaminants, toxic metals are important, so sophisticated techniques for separating metals from contaminated water need to be developed. In the context of modified ultrafiltration complexation processing, various polymers and ligands are currently used. The use of UF technologies for the production of drinking water has observed an increased growth over the past two decades. Membrane fouling is the key barrier to broader applications of ultrafiltration which results in greater costs of energy, operation, maintenance and decreases the life span of membrane limiting the industrialization of the membrane. Fabrication of tight UF membranes is an important development. However, decreased flux and higher functioning pressure are few problems to be explained when applying of the tight UF membrane. The key emphasis is thus on the growth of tight, highly selective UF membranes with a lower molecular weight (low-MWCO).