Chemical cleaning−solvent treatment−hydrophilic modification strategy for regenerating end-of-life PVDF membrane

Membrane will inevitably reach its end of life during long-term application. The current disposal approach of replacing end-of-life (EOL) membranes by new membranes constrains the economic efficiency and sustainability of the membrane-based wastewater treatment. Herein, we conducted a proof-of-concept study of regenerating EOL polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes from a full-scale membrane bioreactor (MBR), to achieve an economical and sustainable membrane-based wastewater treatment. A novel chemical cleaning−solvent treatment−hydrophilic modification strategy was proposed for regenerating the EOL PVDF membranes. After the regeneration, the water permeance of the EOL membrane could be recovered from 43.7 ± 8.8 to 426.0 ± 40.3 L m−2 h−1 bar−1, which was comparable with that of the new membrane. The solvent treatment slightly dissolved the membrane matrix and facilitated the detachment of recalcitrant foulants, which was responsible for the markedly recovered water permeance. The hydrophilic modification using polydopamine coating effectively improved surface hydrophilicity of membrane, endowing the regenerated membrane with better antifouling performance over the solvent treated membrane. The regenerated membrane was tested in an MBR for real municipal wastewater treatment, where the regenerated membrane possessed a comparable effluent quality, as well as a lower fouling rate over EOL, chemical cleaned, and solvent treated membranes. Compared with the conventional way of membrane replacement, the reduction in expenditure and carbon emission of membrane regeneration was ∼3.0 USD/m2-membrane/year and 0.059 kg CO2-e/membrane module, respectively. This proof-of-concept study offers a promising strategy of the EOL membrane regeneration to achieve economical and sustainable membrane-based wastewater treatment.