Reuse and recycling of end-of-life reverse osmosis membranes

Reverse osmosis (RO) is a mature membrane separation technology that is still expanding for seawater desalination. In addition to seeking solutions inherent to this technology problems (i.e., energy consumption, permeate flux reduction, brine discharge), a proper management of the large number of end-of-life discarded RO modules is necessary. Because of membrane irreversible fouling and the loss of RO performance, modules are discarded and mostly disposed in nearby landfills. Recently, different methods and processes have been proposed and optimized for their reuse, recycling, and applications mainly in other membrane processes for water remediation. In this sense, ultrafiltration and microfiltration are the foremost applications considered. RO discarded membrane transformation techniques were also studied for their use in electrodialysis and membrane biofilm reactors processes.