TEHNOLOGIE NOUA DE FABRICARE A UNEI MEMBRANE HIBRIDE MULTIFUNCTIONALE
PENTRU PURIFICAREA AVANSATA A APELOR REZIDUALE – Acronym: NYMPH

Contract MERANET-MANUNET 208/01.12.2020
Autoritatea contractanta: UEFISCDI ROMANIA

       The NYMPH project addresses the topic “Manufacturing technologies for environmental and energy applications”. The project starts from TRL 3 and will develop up to TRL 5 two types of membranes, one nanofiltration inorganic membrane developed at IMNR by hydrothermal functionalization of commercial CNTs with ZnO nanoparticles followed by extrusion and the second polymeric one, at SINTEF, by antifouling surface modification of commercial membranes, via UV and chemical grafting hydrophilization treatment. The novel membranes will be used for water treatment, having excellentantifouling properties and separation performances (50% reduction flux decline in time and >20% increase in permeability) and separation and purification of plant extracts (polyphenols), increasing the separation efficiency (>20% reduction flux decline in time and >20% increase in permeability).
A small pilot equipment will be used to test both types of membranes on the site of both industrial partners: for water recirculation systems (RAS) in aquaculture for fish-farms (Akvafresh, NO) and recirculation of organic solvents after vegetable oils extraction from plant for pharma (Global Res. srl, RO). More fouling-resistant membranes will result in less flux decline; long-term fluxes can be maintained at a higher level, which will lower the required membrane area and reduce the footprint of the membrane unit, consequently reducing the overall investment costs. Less need for membrane cleaning, reduced energy consumption, and longer membrane lifetime will, in addition, reduce operational costs and contribute to a more sustainable process.
After full characterization of membranes and process optimization at lab scale, a small pilot scale system will be designed to test both types of membranes on the production sites of industrial partners involved. Akvafresh NO will test as well both membranes for water cleaning in fish farming, in recirculation aquaculture systems (RAS). Global Res. RO will perform tests for separation (organic solvent removal), purification and concentration increasing of phenolic compounds (anthocyanins, ellagic acid, Phyto estrogenic flavonoids, tannins etc.) in natural plant extracts used in pharma industry or food supplements.

       The official page of the project