Nanomaterial-based photocatalytic membrane for organic pollutants removal

Photocatalytic membrane reactors are those in which photocatalytic membranes are used for degradation of pollutants and then separate the photocatalysts and products present in the wastewater. There are several advantages to this combination for the effective treatment of pollutants compared with an individual one. The photocatalytic membranes are fabricated with a coating of photocatalyst on membrane surfaces as well as by incorporating photocatalysts in the membrane matrix, which avoids loss of the photocatalysts; effective utilization of the same is reported. Development of this photocatalytic membrane-based technology from a laboratory scale to an industrial scale for the treatment of wastewater is essential, and several researchers are working on the issue. Investigation on the advantages, challenges, and issues related to this technology is essential. This will be useful to overcome the problems and difficulties in this existing technology for the treatment of wastewater. In view of this, in this chapter, various photocatalytic membrane nanomaterials and their fabrication methods are discussed. Furthermore, various types of photocatalytic membrane reactors and their configurations are discussed for the treatment of various organic pollutants in view of their challenges and problems. Finally, scale-up of photocatalytic membrane-based processes are discussed.