Abstract

Membrane technology has been widely used in gas separation, material separation and water treatment as a new separation technology. Membrane technology increasingly shows its important role and a bright future. This paper focused on membrane technology and apparatus, and reviewed achievements on patents of wastewater treatment by membrane technology, which contains nanofiltration (NF), ultrafiltration (UF) and reverse osmosis (RO). Membrane technology is an attractive technology that needs further research efforts and industrialization. However, membrane fouling still remains a major problem for all membrane reactors. Discussions are also made on how to resolve membrane fouling for wastewater treatment.

Keywords: Membrane technology, wastewater treatment, membrane fouling, prospect.