Fundamental Study of Microfiltration and Ultrafiltration of Liquid-borne Nanoparticles: Experiments and Models

Abstract

Access to clean water is a fundamental human need and one of the most important and essential elements to health. Despite the worldwide efforts to improve water purification systems, the World Health Organization reported that tens of millions of people are fatally sick and 1.6 million people die every year due to water-related diseases. The diseases are caused by excessive amounts of particulate contaminants, which are derived from industrial chemicals, agricultural runoff and natural pollutants. To reduce such toxic liquid-borne particles suspended in the aqueous environment, liquid filtration techniques using membrane filters have been considered one of the most effective treatments. The membrane techniques have been also widely used to produce a compound with a high level of purity in many industries such as semiconductor manufacturing, drug-related industry and wastewater treatment. The objectives of this thesis are to 1) explore characterization methods for the evaluation of liquid filtration membranes and 2) investigate particle retention behaviors of small nanoparticles through various membrane filters.