Membranes for Environmental Sustainability and a Circular Economy

Abstract

At the turn of the twentieth century, escalating environmental pollution and diminishing freshwater sources underscored the imperative for wastewater recovery to meet the growing demands. Whereas today, the need of the hour is a transformative reassessment of water and wastewater as a potential wealth of resources, such as nutrients, energy, and metals. A paradigm shift is underway, wherein the aim in wastewater treatment is no longer just about disposal, but efficiently reclaiming and cycling these resources back into our economy, laying the foundation for a sustainable and circular framework, and returning the balance of the natural environment. At the forefront of this transformation is membrane technology. Boasting scalability, energy efficiency, and operational simplicity, membranes are poised to reshape the Water-Energy nexus. However, optimizing these systems requires a deep understanding of the fundamental interfacial processes at the water-membrane interface and the ion interactions within the membrane structure. By delving into these mechanisms, we can unlock the potential of membranes to recover critical ions and molecules from wastewater streams. This knowledge serves as the foundation for designing novel membrane processes tailored to diverse resource recovery and recycling applications. 

In this talk, I will explore how interfacial science, mass transfer, and coordination chemistry can be harnessed to develop advanced membranes and membrane-based processes for enhanced resource recovery. Through three illustrative examples, I will demonstrate how innovative membrane materials and electrochemically driven technologies can be precisely engineered for applications at the food-water-energy nexus, paving the way for more sustainable solutions. 

Biography

Dr. Arpita Iddya is a postdoctoral associate at Yale university. She earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering with a minor in Chemical Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2022, where she was awarded the university fellowship. Her research delves into the influence of membrane properties on interfacial phenomena at the membrane-water interface, as well as the interactions within membrane structures. She also holds an MS in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and a BTech in Chemical Engineering from the Visveswaraya Technological University in India.