Performance of a Solar Driven Photocatalytic Membrane Reactor for Municipal Wastewater Treatment

The per capita availability of freshwater resources on a global scale is gradually decreasing due to population growth, rapid urbanization, industrialization, and modern lifestyles. In this situation, wastewater management becomes a major concern. Conventional treatment processes used to treat wastewater discharges are not adequate for the advanced removal of pollutants, especially refractory organic pollutants, which are mainly organic compounds that are not easily biodegradable in the environment. The use of photocatalytic membrane reactors (PMRs) for tertiary wastewater treatment has attracted much interest in recent periods, and various configurations have been investigated. The performance of a PMR using an iron doped titanium photo catalyst and Polysulfone-based polymeric membrane for municipal wastewater treatment was evaluated under natural and simulated solar light. Obtained results proved that solar driven PMRs can remove organic loading (COD) with high efficiencies and may represent a suitable alternative for the tertiary treatment step of municipal wastewater.