A novel porous-carbon-based hollow fiber membrane with electrochemical reduction mediated by in-situ hydroxyl radical generation for fouling control and water treatment

A novel process that combined hollow fiber membrane with electro-Fenton function was developed by bridging porous carbon (PC) with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as the membrane materials. The cathode (PC-CNT hollow fiber membrane) reducing O2 in-situ caused the rapid generation of H2O2, and coupling with Fe2+ for the production of OH as the main oxidant. The OH could directly oxidize pollutants pass through the membranes, then, effluent quality was enhanced and membrane fouling was mitigated. Experimental results indicated that the removal efficiency of protein, glucose and phenol by PC-CNT hollow fiber membrane (optimized contents of CNT and PC was 1:1) at ‒0.8 V was about 2.7, 6.2 and 9.7 times higher than those of membrane separation alone, respectively. Experiments results demonstrated that PC-CNT hollow fiber membrane exhibited good stability by simultaneous filtration and electro-Fenton processing, demonstrating a great potential in membrane filtration system for effluent quality enhancement and membrane fouling control.