Phosphate Elimination and Recovery Lightweight (PEARL) membrane: A sustainable environmental remediation approach

Stephanie M. Ribet, Benjamin Shindel, Roberto dos Reis, Vikas Nandwana, Vinayak P. Dravid*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

Aqueous phosphate pollution can dramatically impact ecosystems, introducing a variety of environmental, economic, and public health problems. While novel remediation tactics based on nanoparticle binding have shown considerable promise in nutrient recovery from water, they are challenging to deploy at scale. To bridge the gap between the laboratory-scale nature of these nanostructure solutions and the practical benchmarks for deploying an environmental remediation tool, we have developed a nanocomposite material. Here, an economical, readily available, porous substrate is dip coated using scalable, waterbased processes with a slurry of nanostructures. These nanomaterials have tailored affinity for specific adsorption of pollutants. Our Phosphate Elimination and Recovery Lightweight (PEARL) membrane can selectively sequester up to 99% of phosphate ions from polluted waters at environmentally relevant concentrations. Moreover, mild tuning of pH promotes at will adsorption and desorption of nutrients. This timed release allows for phosphate recovery and reuse of the PEARL membrane repeatedly for numerous cycles. We combine correlative microscopy and spectroscopy techniques to characterize the complex microstructure of the PEARL membrane and to unravel the mechanism of phosphate sorption. More broadly, through the example of phosphate pollution, this work describes a platform membrane approach based on nanostructures with specific affinity coated on a porous structure. Such a strategy can be tuned to address other environmental remediation challenges through the incorporation of other nanomaterials.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numbere2102583118
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume118
Issue number23
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 29 2021

Funding

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. The research related to oxide nanostructured architecture is supported by the NSF Grant DMR-1929356 (Ceramics Program, Program Manager: Dr. Lynnette Madsen). This work made use of the Electron Probe Instrumentation Center (EPIC), BioCryo, and Keck-II facilities of Northwestern University Atomic and Nanoscale Characterization Experimental (NUANCE) Center, which has received support from the Soft and Hybrid Nanotechnology Experimental (SHyNE) Resource (NSF Grant ECCS-2025633), the International Institute of Nanotechnology (IIN), and Northwestern’s Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) program (NSF Grant DMR-1720139). This work made use of the Jerome B. Cohen X-Ray Diffraction Facility supported by the MRSEC program (NSF Grant DMR-1720139) at the Materials Research Center of Northwestern University and the SHyNE Resource (NSF Grant ECCS-2025633). Elemental analysis was performed at the Northwestern University Quantitative Bio-element Imaging Center. Nitrogen adsorption isotherm analysis was performed at the Northwestern Reactor Engineering and Catalyst Testing core facility. S.M.R. acknowledges support from the American Membrane Technology Association and the National Water Research Institute. We thank Tirzah Abbott, Eric W. Roth, Charlene Wilke, Dr. Reiner Bleher, Dr. Paul J. M. Smeets, Dr. Akshay A. Murthy, Dr. Neil M. Schweitzer, Rebecca Sponenburg, and Christopher Metellus for their contributions. We acknowledge support from MWRD Commissioner Debra Shore, Tom Kunetz, Dr. Kuldip Kumar, and the Terence J. O’Brien WRP’s Maintenance and Operation Staff.

Keywords

  • Adsorption
  • Electron microscopy
  • Eutrophication
  • Nanotechnology
  • Nutrient pollution

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General

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