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Sustainable Membrane Technology for Water and Wastewater Treatment pp 1–21Cite as

Sustainability and How Membrane Technologies in Water Treatment Can Be a Contributor

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Part of the Green Chemistry and Sustainable Technology book series (GCST)

Abstract

Water treatment technologies inherit the environmental, economic, and societal burdens either from polluted natural sources for potable water, or from domestic sewer water for municipal wastewater treatment plants, or from various industrial processing plants that produce highly contaminated wastewater. Application of various membrane technologies for wastewater has been growing because they enjoy relative advantage over other technologies in terms of sustainability. This advantage mainly emanates from economic benefits, ease of operation and safety. This chapter discusses what sustainability means for wastewater treatment and what specific sustainability advantages membrane processes can demonstrate. Applicable sustainability indicators are identified for various membrane technologies that can tackle a large number of wastewater problems.

Keywords

  • Sustainability indicators
  • Sustainability assessment
  • Membrane technologies
  • Wastewater treatment

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The required pressure for brakish water can be as high as 26 bar, and for seawater as high as 80 bar.

  2. 2.

    According to the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change, climate change will affect the hydrological cycles of the earth, making some areas arid, others wetter [10].

  3. 3.

    Software packages such as Simapro (http://simapro.com/business/?gclid=CLPpo834rcgCFdCPHwodTnQPQw), Gabi (http://www.gabi-software.com/america/index/) can be used. These packages provide various environmentally relevant impacts (such as acidification potential, ozone depletion potential, cancer causing potential, etc.) per unit mass of the toxics released. USA EPA has freely available package, TRACI, which also can be used for impact assessment.

  4. 4.

    Such as Aspen Plus (http://www.aspentech.com/products/engineering/aspen-plus/).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Subhas K. Sikdar

  2. Institute on Membrane Technology (ITM-CNR), via P. Bucci 17/C, 87030, Rende (CS), Italy

    Alessandra Criscuoli

Authors
  1. Subhas K. Sikdar
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  2. Alessandra Criscuoli
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Subhas K. Sikdar .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute on Membrane Technology, National Research Council of Italy, ITM-CNR, Rende, Cosenza, Italy

    Dr. Alberto Figoli

  2. Institute on Membrane Technology, National Research Council of Italy, ITM-CNR, Rende, Cosenza, Italy

    Dr. Alessandra Criscuoli

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Sikdar, S.K., Criscuoli, A. (2017). Sustainability and How Membrane Technologies in Water Treatment Can Be a Contributor. In: Figoli, A., Criscuoli, A. (eds) Sustainable Membrane Technology for Water and Wastewater Treatment. Green Chemistry and Sustainable Technology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5623-9_1

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