Modeling mass transport across charge-mosaic membranes
- Persons involved: Mangut Sunday Jikmyan (PhD candidate), Wiebe de Vos (promotor), Rob Lammertink (promotor), Jeff Wood (co-promotor)
- Duration: 2024-2028
- Funding: European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant Mosaic
Introduction
Population growth and climate change are intensifying global water scarcity, either through reduced availability or contamination of freshwater sources. Organic micropollutants (OMPs), originating from agricultural, pharmaceutical, and personal care products, are of particular concern due to their persistence and endocrine-disrupting effects on humans and aquatic life. Conventional treatment processes such as reverse osmosis and nanofiltration effectively remove OMPs but also reject essential salts, generating concentrated reject streams, increasing energy demand and fouling risk, and necessitating post-treatment remineralization. To address these limitations, innovative membranes are needed that selectively block OMPs while allowing salt passage.
Charge-mosaic (CM) membranes, composed of alternating cationic and anionic domains enable salt transport due to electroneutrality constraints while blocking OMPs primarily through steric exclusion [1]. This project focuses on modeling mass transport across CM membranes to elucidate their structure–property–performance relationships.
Keywords
Organic Micropollutants (OMPs), Charge-mosaic membranes, Wastewater
Technological challenges
The complex structure of charge-mosaic membranes has made modeling mass transport difficult to resolve. Existing studies often simplify the charge-mosaic system by assuming equal domain lengths, identical charge densities across cationic and anionic patches, and using KCl as a model salt to reduce complexity [2, 3].
Research goals/research questions
1. Model single-salt transport across CM membranes considering unequal domain lengths and unequal charge densities.
2. Extend the model to mixed-salt systems and analyse the influence of salt concentration on membrane performance.
Figure 1. Schematic representation of a charge-mosaic membrane
References
- Söllner, K., Über Mosaikmembranen. Protoplasma 19, 635–636 (1933).
- Yaroshchuk, A. E. An analytical solution for the diffusion of electrolytes through a charge-mosaic membrane. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 3, 1883–1890 (2001).
- Summe, M. J., Sahoo, S. J., Whitmer, J. K. & Phillip, W. A. Salt Permeation Mechanisms in Charge-Patterned Mosaic Membranes Journal: Molecular Systems Design & Engineering Salt Permeation Mechanisms in Charge-Patterned Mosaic Membranes.