Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

New concepts for water treatment with membrane technology: From ideas to large pilot scale tests

Researchers presented three novel water treatment concepts based on membrane technology — rainstorm water harvesting with micro-/ultrafiltration, direct membrane filtration for wastewater treatment, and an integrated forward osmosis concept — tracing their development from initial ideas through to large pilot-scale testing to address global water scarcity.

2024 Lund University Publications (Lund University)
Article Tier 2

New pilot scale concepts for water treatment with membrane technology

Researchers developed three pilot-scale water treatment concepts based on membrane technology: microfiltration/ultrafiltration for stormwater collection and purification, direct membrane filtration for wastewater treatment, and a combined forward osmosis, membrane distillation, and nanofiltration system for advanced water recovery. The pilot testing assessed the performance and practical feasibility of each approach for addressing global water scarcity.

2024 Lund University Publications (Lund University)
Article Tier 2

Membrane Technologies at the Frontier: A Review of Advanced Solutions for Microplastics and Emerging Contaminants in Wastewater

This review evaluates advanced membrane-based technologies for removing microplastics and emerging contaminants from wastewater, covering mechanisms such as size exclusion, adsorption, and biodegradation. Researchers identified membrane fouling as the primary constraint on operational efficiency, with different fouling types contributing to reduced water flow and increased energy costs. The study outlines future directions including intelligent membranes, AI-driven monitoring systems, and circular economy approaches to sustainable wastewater treatment.

2026 Environments
Article Tier 2

Removal and Fouling Influence of Microplastics in Fertilizer Driven Forward Osmosis for Wastewater Reclamation

Forward osmosis driven by fertilizer draw solution was found to efficiently remove micro- and nanoplastics while producing irrigation-quality water, though microplastics caused membrane fouling that reduced water flux over time, requiring further optimization for practical implementation.

2021 Membranes 20 citations
Article Tier 2

Membrane Cleaning Technologies for Water Treatment: A Review

Membrane filtration is one of the most effective technologies for removing microplastics from drinking water and wastewater, but membranes clog over time and require regular cleaning to maintain performance. This review evaluates the full range of cleaning methods—from simple water backwashing to ultrasonic treatment, advanced oxidation processes, and electrochemical approaches—comparing their effectiveness at removing different types of fouling without damaging the membrane. Understanding optimal cleaning strategies is important for designing cost-effective, long-lasting filtration systems that can reliably remove microplastics at scale.

2026 Academic Journal of Science and Technology
Article Tier 2

Revolutionizing Wastewater Reuse: A Critical Review of Innovative Treatment Technologies for a Sustainable Energy-Water Nexus

This review critically examines innovative wastewater treatment technologies for sustainable reuse, covering advances in membrane filtration, electrochemical processes, advanced oxidation, and emerging contaminant removal including microplastics, in the context of addressing global water scarcity.

2025
Article Tier 2

The Potential Role of Membrane Technology in the Removal of Microplastics from Wastewater

This review examines membrane filtration as a technology for removing microplastics from wastewater, finding it promising but limited by issues of fouling and chemical instability. Improving membrane technology could significantly reduce the amount of microplastics discharged into waterways from treatment plants.

2021 Journal of Applied Membrane Science & Technology 21 citations
Article Tier 2

Water Treatment: Are Membranes the Panacea?

This review examined whether membrane technologies can serve as the primary solution for treating increasingly complex nontraditional water sources, concluding that while membranes are promising they face challenges with scaling, fouling, and energy demands that limit their role as a universal panacea for water security.

2020 Annual Review of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering 84 citations
Review Tier 2

A review of microplastic removal from water and wastewater by membrane technologies

This review examines how membrane filtration technologies can remove microplastics from drinking water and wastewater. Researchers found that advanced membranes like nanofiltration, reverse osmosis, and membrane bioreactors are among the most effective methods for capturing microplastic particles that conventional treatment plants miss. The study compares membrane approaches with other removal methods and discusses the challenges of membrane fouling caused by microplastic accumulation.

2023 Water Science & Technology 146 citations
Article Tier 2

Grand Challenges in Membrane Modules and Processes

This grand challenge article outlined key research priorities for advancing membrane modules and processes, identifying fouling control, energy efficiency, and selectivity as central challenges, with microplastic removal from water and wastewater emerging as an important application area for next-generation membrane technologies.

2022 Frontiers in Membrane Science and Technology 20 citations
Article Tier 2

Pilot scale evaluation of thin film composite membranes for reducing wastewater volumes: osmotic concentration process

Researchers tested a special membrane filter system (forward osmosis) at pilot scale to reduce the volume of wastewater produced by gas industry operations. The system successfully concentrated the wastewater, achieving a water flow rate of around 10 liters per square meter per hour over 48 hours, with a simple citric acid cleaning step restoring membrane performance after mineral buildup.

2023 Emergent Materials 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Advancements in Sustainable Membrane Technologies for Enhanced Remediation and Wastewater Treatment: A Comprehensive Review

This review covers membrane filtration technologies—reverse osmosis, nanofiltration, and ultrafiltration—as methods for removing contaminants from water, with relevance to microplastic and nanoplastic removal from drinking water and wastewater. Advancing membrane-based treatment is critical for reducing the microplastic load in treated water that humans and ecosystems are ultimately exposed to.

2023 Acadlore Transactions on Geosciences 10 citations
Article Tier 2

Recent advances on micro/nanoplastic pollution and membrane fouling during water treatment: A review

Researchers reviewed recent advances in understanding how micro- and nanoplastics contribute to membrane fouling during water treatment processes. The study found that while membrane separation effectively removes microplastics from wastewater effluent, fouling caused by plastic particles along with dissolved organics and extracellular polymers remains a key obstacle, and understanding the fouling mechanisms is critical for improving treatment efficiency.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 64 citations
Article Tier 2

Pressure-Driven Membrane Processes for Removing Microplastics

This review examines the use of pressure-driven membrane processes, including microfiltration, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, and reverse osmosis, for removing micro- and nanoplastics from water. Researchers found these membrane technologies can achieve removal rates of up to 100% in aqueous environments such as stormwater, wastewater, and landfill leachate. The study highlights both the operational challenges and innovations in membrane design that could enable broader application of these techniques.

2025 Membranes 7 citations
Article Tier 2

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

Researchers evaluated a solar-driven photocatalytic membrane reactor for treating municipal wastewater, finding it offers an efficient and sustainable alternative to conventional treatment methods amid rising global demand.

2024 Processes 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Impact of Cleaning on Membrane Performance during Surface Water Treatment: A Hybrid Process with Biological Ion Exchange and Gravity-Driven Membranes

This paper is not about microplastics — it studies how physical and chemical cleaning methods affect the flux and permeate quality of ceramic and polymeric membranes used in a hybrid biological ion exchange and gravity-driven membrane system for treating river water.

2024 Membranes 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Preventing Microplastic Release into Oceans through Wastewater Treatment Technologies.

Comparing immersed and sidestream membrane bioreactors for microplastic removal from wastewater, this analysis found membrane bioreactors more efficient than conventional treatment, identifying them as a key technology to prevent microplastic release to oceans.

2024 Science and Technology of Engineering Chemistry and Environmental Protection
Article Tier 2

Wastewater Treatment Methods for Removal of Microplastics from Effluents

This book chapter reviewed pressure membrane technologies — including ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, and reverse osmosis — for removing microplastics and nanoplastics from wastewater effluents. The authors evaluate the performance, cost, and limitations of each membrane type and discuss how combinations of technologies can achieve higher removal efficiencies.

2025
Article Tier 2

Algal-Based Hollow Fiber Membrane Bioreactors for Efficient Wastewater Treatment: A Comprehensive Review

This comprehensive review examines algal-based hollow fiber membrane bioreactors as a sustainable technology for wastewater treatment. The study highlights how integrating algae with membrane filtration systems can efficiently treat various water pollutants while offering potential benefits for nutrient recovery and biomass production.

2024 Fermentation 19 citations
Article Tier 2

Análise de técnicas de remediação para a mitigação de micro e nanoplásticos em oceanos com base na revisão da literatura

This review analyzed scientific literature on remediation techniques for removing micro- and nanoplastics from ocean environments, identifying and comparing two key approaches: the first focused on membrane-based methods — ultrafiltration, membrane bioreactors, and dynamic membrane technology — for wastewater treatment, and the second examined nanomaterials as adsorbents. Membrane technologies demonstrated high removal efficiency for micro- and nanoplastics, though each method presents implementation challenges that require further research.

2024
Article Tier 2

A comprehensive review of vacuum membrane distillation: Applications, challenges, and future directions

This review evaluates recent advances in vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) for water and wastewater treatment, analysing variations in energy performance and identifying a best-case gained output ratio of 0.9. It discusses strategies including multi-stage systems, renewable energy integration, and novel heating methods to improve VMD efficiency.

2025 Journal of Water Process Engineering 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Filtration Solutions for Microplastic Mitigation: Cutting-Edge Filtration Technologies and Membrane Innovations for Environmental Protection

This review covers advances in filtration technologies and membrane innovations for removing microplastics from the environment, examining the performance, limitations, and scalability of approaches including membrane filtration, coagulation, and combined treatment processes.

2025 Preprints.org
Article Tier 2

A review on techniques for the cleaning of wastewater

This review comprehensively examines current wastewater treatment approaches including physical, chemical, and biological methods, with emphasis on adsorption and membrane filtration for removing contaminants. The review addresses global challenges of water contamination and scarcity affecting billions of people annually.

2024 GSC Advanced Research and Reviews 9 citations
Article Tier 2

A multidimensional study of wastewater treatment

This review covers the full range of wastewater treatment approaches, from physical and chemical methods to biological and membrane-based technologies. The paper summarizes how different contaminant types — including microplastics — are handled by various treatment systems. It serves as a broad reference for understanding current wastewater management capabilities and limitations.

2022 International Journal of experimental research and review 7 citations