It's March tomorrow - which means our next edition of the monthly 'Water Colloquium' series is fast approaching. The 'Water Colloquium' series is organised by WIRC @ Bath, and it explores the breadth of water research being undertaken at the University of Bath and beyond. This month, our Colloquium is organised as a joint monthly seminar with the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Bath.
This month's speaker Antoine Kemperman (MSc, PhD) from the University of Twente will speak about water purification using membrane technology and give us an overview of research on this topic at the University of Twente.
Title: Water purification using membrane technology - an overview of research at the University of Twente
Speaker: Antoine Kemperman (MSc, PhD)
When: Tuesday 13 March 2018 at 1.15pm
Where: Room 2.3, 5W Building, University of Bath (Location and maps)
Note: This event is free and open to all.
Abstract:
Membrane Science and Technology (MST) at the University of Twente represents a cluster of membrane related research groups. Research covers a diverse set of expertises and processes, including polymeric and inorganic membranes, hybrid membranes, transport phenomena and process design. The cluster covers the whole range of Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) from fundamental research up to small demonstration units (TRL 1 up to 6).
Water purification is one of the research focus points of the MST cluster. This presentation will highlight some of the work, after an introduction to the cluster. On a more fundamental level, research within the Soft Matter, Fluidics and Interfaces (SFI) group is directed at interfacial phenomena and processes that are crucial for mass and heat transport. Fundamental principles where fluid flow encounters structures on a sub-millimeter length scale are studied and exploited. Examples are the transport of ions in confined geometries and ion concentration polarization phenomena in electrodialysis processes. By means of Layer-by-Layer technology, a new generation of tunable nanofiltration membranes is prepared in the MSuS (Membrane Surface Science) group for the removal of micropollutants from water. These membranes are able to remove neutral and charged (positive, negative) molecules, which is a challenge for most of the currently available membranes on the market. Examples of preparation methods for these membranes and their performance are given. The removal of engineered nanoparticles from water using microfiltration membranes and the influence of ion concentration as well as the presence of different types of stabilizers is discussed to illustrate our work in that field. Finally, attention will be paid to the one step RO (OSRO) concept. Instead of a series of conventional water purification technologies (like rapid sand filtration, active carbon etc.) only one reverse osmosis step is used to produce drinking water directly from brackish, surface- or ground water sources. A new and sustainable remineralization process currently is under investigation in the MTEWP (Membrane Technology and Engineering for Water Purification) group.
On the presenter:
Antoine Kemperman (27-04-1968) got his MSc at the University of Twente in 1991 on the preparation of zeolite filled glassy polymeric membranes for gas separation (Prof. C.A. Smolders). His PhD was obtained in 1995 in the same group on the stabilization of supported liquid membranes (promotor: Prof. H, Strathmann). After staying 1 year in Wageningen (topic: application of membranes in the food and vegetable oil industry) he returned to the University of Twente to work as a researcher at the European Membrane Institute (EMI) Twente, the entity valorizing the academic research of the Membrane Science and Technology group. Since 2007 he is also involved in academic research and teaching. First in the Membrane Process Technology group, and from September 2016 on in the Membrane Technology and Engineering for Water Purification group (both Prof. W. van der Meer) on the use of membranes for water purification, which a focus on membrane fouling and the OSRO concept. From 2012 on he is also employed for 0.2 fte at Wetsus, European centre of excellence for sustainable water (Leeuwarden, the Netherlands). Antoine is secretary of the Dutch Membrane Society (NMG) since 2005 and from January 2017 on vice-president of the European Membrane Society (EMS).
Contact: Please email Anni Laihanen (a.m.laihanen@bath.ac.uk) if you need any further information.
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