Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Life Cycle Analysis of Polymeric Membrane-Based Processes

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Membranes for Water Treatment and Remediation

Part of the book series: Materials Horizons: From Nature to Nanomaterials ((MHFNN))

  • 392 Accesses

Abstract

Polymeric membranes have been widely used in advanced separation-based technologies owing to their high-performance efficiency and reduced impact on the environment. However, synthesis of these membranes is often unsustainable and non-ecofriendly. Materials used for membrane synthesis include fossil-fuel derived polymers and biopolymers. Recent research trends suggest a gradual shift towards utilization of alternative “green” materials and solvents for reducing the environmental footprint of these processes. This chapter reviews the impacts of polymer membrane synthesis and application on ecotoxicity, fossil-fuel scarcity, global warming, and land use potential. This review also addresses the sustainability and cost effectiveness of these membranes arising from adoption of greener alternatives. This chapter also includes brief discussions on carbon footprint reduction and process optimization.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 139.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Abdellah MH, Pérez-Manríquez L, Puspasari T, Scholes CA, Kentish SE, Peinemann KV (2018) A catechin/cellulose composite membrane for organic solvent nanofiltration. J Membr Sci 567:139–145

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Al Aani S, Mustafa TN, Hilal N (2020) Ultrafiltration membranes for wastewater and water process engineering: a comprehensive statistical review over the past decade. J Water Process Eng 35:101241

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Alexowsky C, Bojarska M, Ulbricht M (2019) Porous poly (vinylidene fluoride) membranes with tailored properties by fast and scalable non-solvent vapor induced phase separation. J Membr Sci 577:69–78

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Aristizábal SL, Chisca S, Pulido BA, Nunes SP (2019) Preparation of PEEK membranes with excellent stability using common organic solvents. Ind Eng Chem Res 59(12):5218–5226

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Asif MB, Hou J, Price WE, Chen V, Hai FI (2020) Removal of trace organic contaminants by enzymatic membrane bioreactors: role of membrane retention and biodegradation. J Membr Sci 611:118345

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Baig MI, Durmaz EN, Willott JD, de Vos WM (2020) Sustainable membrane production through polyelectrolyte complexation induced aqueous phase separation. Adv Func Mater 30(5):1907344

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Chisca S, Falca G, Musteata VE, Boi C, Nunes SP (2017) Crosslinked polytriazole membranes for organophilic filtration. J Membr Sci 528:264–272

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Coates GW, Getzler YD (2020) Chemical recycling to monomer for an ideal, circular polymer economy. Nat Rev Mater 5(7):501–516

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Coutinho de Paula E, Gomes JCL, Amaral MCS (2017) Recycling of end-of-life reverse osmosis membranes by oxidative treatment: a technical evaluation. Water Sci Technol 76(3):605–622

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Cui Z, Hassankiadeh NT, Lee SY, Woo KT, Lee JM, Sanguineti A, Drioli E (2015) Tailoring novel fibrillar morphologies in poly (vinylidene fluoride) membranes using a low toxic triethylene glycol diacetate (TEGDA) diluent. J Membr Sci 473:128–136

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. da Silva Burgal J, Peeva LG, Kumbharkar S, Livingston A (2015) Organic solvent resistant poly (ether-ether-ketone) nanofiltration membranes. J Membr Sci 479:105–116

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. de Paula EC, Amaral MCS (2018) Environmental and economic evaluation of end-of-life reverse osmosis membranes recycling by means of chemical conversion. J Clean Prod 194:85–93

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Dong X, Al-Jumaily A, Escobar IC (2018) Investigation of the use of a bio-derived solvent for non-solvent-induced phase separation (NIPS) fabrication of polysulfone membranes. Membranes 8(2):23

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Dong R, Liu R, Gaffney PR, Schaepertoens M, Marchetti P, Williams CM, Livingston AG (2019) Sequence-defined multifunctional polyethers via liquid-phase synthesis with molecular sieving. Nat Chem 11(2):136–145

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Drioli E, Giorno L, Fontananova E (eds) (2017) Comprehensive membrane science and engineering. Elsevier

    Google Scholar 

  16. Falca G, Musteata VE, Behzad AR, Chisca S, Nunes SP (2019) Cellulose hollow fibers for organic resistant nanofiltration. J Membr Sci 586:151–161

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Farahani MHDA, Chung TS (2019) A novel crosslinking technique towards the fabrication of high-flux polybenzimidazole (PBI) membranes for organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN). Sep Purif Technol 209:182–192

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. García-Pacheco R, Landaburu-Aguirre J, Molina S, Rodríguez-Sáez L, Teli SB, García-Calvo E (2015) Transformation of end-of-life RO membranes into NF and UF membranes: evaluation of membrane performance. J Membr Sci 495:305–315

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Gündoğdu M, Jarma YA, Kabay N, Pek TÖ, Yüksel M (2019) Integration of MBR with NF/RO processes for industrial wastewater reclamation and water reuse-effect of membrane type on product water quality. J Water Process Eng 29:100574

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Hassankiadeh NT, Cui Z, Kim JH, Shin DW, Lee SY, Sanguineti A, Drioli E (2015) Microporous poly (vinylidene fluoride) hollow fiber membranes fabricated with PolarClean as water-soluble green diluent and additives. J Membr Sci 479:204–212

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Huang T, He G, Xue J, Otoo O, He X, Jiang H, Guiver MD (2020) Self-crosslinked blend alkaline anion exchange membranes with bi-continuous phase separated morphology to enhance ion conductivity. J Membr Sci 597:117769

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Ismail N, Venault A, Mikkola JP, Bouyer D, Drioli E, Kiadeh NTH (2020) Investigating the potential of membranes formed by the vapor induced phase separation process. J Membr Sci 597:117601

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Jimenez-Solomon MF, Song Q, Jelfs KE, Munoz-Ibanez M, Livingston AG (2016) Polymer nanofilms with enhanced microporosity by interfacial polymerization. Nat Mater 15(7):760–767

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Kim JH, Moon SJ, Park SH, Cook M, Livingston AG, Lee YM (2018) A robust thin film composite membrane incorporating thermally rearranged polymer support for organic solvent nanofiltration and pressure retarded osmosis. J Membr Sci 550:322–331

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Koh DY, McCool BA, Deckman HW, Lively RP (2016) Reverse osmosis molecular differentiation of organic liquids using carbon molecular sieve membranes. Science 353(6301):804–807

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Konca K, Culfaz-Emecen PZ (2019) Effect of carboxylic acid crosslinking of cellulose membranes on nanofiltration performance in ethanol and dimethylsulfoxide. J Membr Sci 587:117175

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Krzeminski P, Leverette L, Malamis S, Katsou E (2017) Membrane bioreactors—a review on recent developments in energy reduction, fouling control, novel configurations, LCA and market prospects. J Membr Sci 527:207–227

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Landaburu-Aguirre J, García-Pacheco R, Molina S, Rodríguez-Sáez L, Rabadán J, García-Calvo E (2016) Fouling prevention, preparing for re-use and membrane recycling. Towards circular economy in RO desalination. Desalination 393:16–30

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Lawler W, Alvarez-Gaitan J, Leslie G, Le-Clech P (2015) Comparative life cycle assessment of end-of-life options for reverse osmosis membranes. Desalination 357:45–54

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Lejarazu-Larrañaga A, Molina S, Ortiz JM, Navarro R, García-Calvo E (2020) Circular economy in membrane technology: using end-of-life reverse osmosis modules for preparation of recycled anion exchange membranes and validation in electrodialysis. J Membr Sci 593:117423

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Marino T, Russo F, Criscuoli A, Figoli A (2017) TamiSolve® NxG as novel solvent for polymeric membrane preparation. J Membr Sci 542:418–429

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Marino T, Blasi E, Tornaghi S, Di Nicolò E, Figoli A (2018) Polyethersulfone membranes prepared with Rhodiasolv® Polarclean as water soluble green solvent. J Membr Sci 549:192–204

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Marino T, Galiano F, Molino A, Figoli A (2019) New frontiers in sustainable membrane preparation: Cyrene™ as green bioderived solvent. J Membr Sci 580:224–234

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Moradi MR, Pihlajamäki A, Hesampour M, Ahlgren J, Mänttäri M (2019) End-of-life RO membranes recycling: reuse as NF membranes by polyelectrolyte layer-by-layer deposition. J Membr Sci 584:300–308

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Morón-López J, Nieto-Reyes L, Aguado S, El-Shehawy R, Molina S (2019) Recycling of end-of-life reverse osmosis membranes for membrane biofilms reactors (MBfRs). Effect of chlorination on the membrane surface and gas permeability. Chemosphere 231:103–112

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Nunes SP, Culfaz-Emecen PZ, Ramon GZ, Visser T, Koops GH, Jin W, Ulbricht M (2020) Thinking the future of membranes: perspectives for advanced and new membrane materials and manufacturing processes. J Membr Sci 598:117761

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Pontié M (2015) Old RO membranes: solutions for reuse. Desalin Water Treat 53(6):1492–1498

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Pontié M, Awad S, Tazerout M, Chaouachi O, Chaouachi B (2017) Recycling and energy recovery solutions of end-of-life reverse osmosis (RO) membrane materials: a sustainable approach. Desalination 423:30–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Pulido BA, Waldron C, Zolotukhin MG, Nunes SP (2017) Porous polymeric membranes with thermal and solvent resistance. J Membr Sci 539:187–196

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  40. Pulido B, Chisca S, Nunes SP (2018) Solvent and thermal resistant ultrafiltration membranes from alkyne-functionalized high-performance polymers. J Membr Sci 564:361–371

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  41. Pulido BA, Habboub OS, Aristizabal SL, Szekely G, Nunes SP (2019) Recycled poly (ethylene terephthalate) for high temperature solvent resistant membranes. ACS Appl Polym Mater 1(9):2379–2387

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  42. Rasool MA, Pescarmona PP, Vankelecom IF (2019) Applicability of organic carbonates as green solvents for membrane preparation. ACS Sustain Chem Eng 7(16):13774–13785

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  43. Razali M, Kim JF, Attfield M, Budd PM, Drioli E, Lee YM, Szekely G (2015) Sustainable wastewater treatment and recycling in membrane manufacturing. Green Chem 17(12):5196–5205

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  44. Sawada SI, Ursino C, Galiano F, Simone S, Drioli E, Figoli A (2015) Effect of citrate-based non-toxic solvents on poly (vinylidene fluoride) membrane preparation via thermally induced phase separation. J Membr Sci 493:232–242

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  45. Senan-Salinas J, Garcia-Pacheco R, Landaburu-Aguirre J, García-Calvo E (2019) Recycling of end-of-life reverse osmosis membranes: comparative LCA and cost-effectiveness analysis at pilot scale. Resour Conserv Recycl 150:104423

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Shin M, Song WJ, Son HB, Yoo S, Kim S, Song G, Park S (2018) Batteries: highly stretchable separator membrane for deformable energy‐storage devices (Adv. Energy Mater. 23/2018). Adv Energy Mater 8(23):1870102

    Google Scholar 

  47. Sutisna B, Musteata V, Pulido B, Puspasari T, Smilgies DM, Hadjichristidis N, Nunes SP (2019) High flux membranes, based on self-assembled and H-bond linked triblock copolymer nanospheres. J Membr Sci 585:10–18

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  48. Villalobos LF, Huang T, Peinemann KV (2017) Cyclodextrin films with fast solvent transport and shape-selective permeability. Adv Mater 29(26):1606641

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Verbeke R, Arts W, Dom E, Dickmann M, Egger W, Koeckelberghs G, Vankelecom IF (2019) Transferring bulk chemistry to interfacial synthesis of TFC-membranes to create chemically robust poly (epoxyether) films. J Membr Sci 582:442–453

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  50. Wang B, Ji J, Li K (2016) Crystal nuclei templated nanostructured membranes prepared by solvent crystallization and polymer migration. Nat Commun 7(1):1–8

    Google Scholar 

  51. Wang J, Guo H, Yang Z, Mei Y, Tang CY (2017) Gravity-driven catalytic nanofibrous membranes prepared using a green template. J Membr Sci 525:298–303

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  52. Wu QY, Wang C, Wang R, Chen C, Gao J, Dai J, Hu L (2020) Salinity-gradient power generation with ionized wood membranes. Adv Energy Mater 10(1):1902590

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  53. Xie W, Li T, Tiraferri A, Drioli E, Figoli A, Crittenden JC, Liu B (2020) Toward the next generation of sustainable membranes from green chemistry principles. ACS Sustain Chem Eng 9(1):50–75

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Yadav P, Ismail N, Essalhi M, Tysklind M, Athanassiadis D, Tavajohi N (2021) Assessment of the environmental impact of polymeric membrane production. J Membr Sci 622:118987

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  55. Yusuf A, Sodiq A, Giwa A, Eke J, Pikuda O, De Luca G, Chakraborty S (2020) A review of emerging trends in membrane science and technology for sustainable water treatment. J Clean Prod 266:121867

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  56. Zhang LP, Liu Z, Faraj Y, Zhao Y, Zhuang R, Xie R, Chu LY (2019) High-flux efficient catalytic membranes incorporated with iron-based Fenton-like catalysts for degradation of organic pollutants. J Membr Sci 573:493–503

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  57. Zhu L, Dong X, Xu M, Yang F, Guiver MD, Dong Y (2019) Fabrication of mullite ceramic-supported carbon nanotube composite membranes with enhanced performance in direct separation of high-temperature emulsified oil droplets. J Membr Sci 582:140–150

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Studies, Centre for Distance and Online Education, Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, India

    Priya Banerjee

Authors
  1. Priya Banerjee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Priya Banerjee .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Jaypee University of Information Technology, Waknaghat, India

    Ashok Kumar Nadda

  2. Department of Environmental Studies, Centre for Distance and Online Education, Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

    Priya Banerjee

  3. University Institute of Biotechnology, Chandigarh University, Mohali, Punjab, India

    Swati Sharma

  4. Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Physics, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivière, Trois-Rivières, QC, Canada

    Phuong Nguyen-Tri

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Banerjee, P. (2023). Life Cycle Analysis of Polymeric Membrane-Based Processes. In: Nadda, A.K., Banerjee, P., Sharma, S., Nguyen-Tri, P. (eds) Membranes for Water Treatment and Remediation. Materials Horizons: From Nature to Nanomaterials. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9176-9_11

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation