NTU-CEE Distinguished Seminar Series: Breaking the Permeability-Selectivity Trade-off of Thin-Film Composite Reverse Osmosis and Nanofiltration Membranes
Moderator
Assistant Professor SHE Qianhong
About the Seminar
Thin film composite (TFC) polyamide Reverse osmosis (RO) and nanofiltration (NF) membranes have been widely used in desalination, water/wastewater treatment, and various industrial separation processes. Their separation performance is constrained by a permeance-selectivity upper bound.
This talk will present some strategies to overcome the state-of-the-art upper bound. Fundamental transport phenomena in TFC membranes will be introduced to understand the important limiting factors, and model simulation results will be highlighted. Insights gained from transport modeling will be used to guide the design of more permeable membranes. At the same time, approaches for synthesizing more selective membranes will be introduced.
In addition to common mineral salts, this presentation will also talk about the rejection of harmful organic micropollutants–an important topic related to water treatment and wastewater reclamation. The implications and future perspectives of more permeable and more selective RO and NF membranes will be highlighted.
About the Speaker
CY Tang is a Professor of Environmental Engineering at the University of Hong Kong.
He obtained his PhD degree from Stanford University and has approximately 20 years of experience in membrane technology, water reuse, and desalination.
Professor Tang is a co-editor of the Desalination Journal and a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher since 2021. He has published more than 300 journal papers, with a total citation of >35,000 and H-index of 102 according to Google Scholar. Professor Tang led the invention of aquaporin-based biomimetic membranes, which resulted in the successful commercialization of Aquaporin Inside Membranes (AIMs®) by Aquaporin Asia Singapore.
His R&D has received many prestigious awards and recognitions, such as the inaugural RGC Senior Research Fellowship, the inaugural HKU Innovator Award, the HKU Outstanding Researcher Award, Global Chair of Bath University, the IDA Water Reuse & Conservation Award, the CAPEES/Nanova Frontier Research Award, etc.
More information about Professor Tang’s research can be found at www.membest.hku.hk.
