Metal ion removal and degradation of organic foulants

I have developed a polymeric adsorbent textile material in a number of formats that successfully pick up metal cations and oxyanions. When impregnated with a transition metal the material can behave as a catalyst working with an oxidant to degrade organics. Both of these treatments will reduce fouling of a membrane when used as a pretreatment. The catalytic process has been assisted by UVc, VUV and microwaves to enhance treatment. Solar harvesting photocatalysts can be put onto the polymer material to avoid the use of an oxidant as they work with solar light and water to degrade pollutants. These treatments have been used as a pretreatment/ posttreatment in a scalable rotating disc reactor. The polymer material/catalyst could innovatively be deposited/ synthesised as a coating on the membrane surface(s) to prevent fouling. To remove calcium and magnesium cations the polymer of choice will have functional carboxylic acid groups e.g. polyacrylic acid (PAA), polylactic acid etc. Regeneration is by a back flushing with an acid wash to remove these metal ions.