Evaluation of Commercial Reverse Osmosis and Nanofiltration Membranes for the Removal of Heavy Metals from Surface Water in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Vercus Lumami Kapepula (), Mar García Alvarez, Vida Sang Sefidi, Estella Buleng Njoyim Tamungang, Théophile Ndikumana, Dieu-Donné Musibono, Bart Van Der Bruggen and Patricia Luis ()
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Vercus Lumami Kapepula: Hydrobiology Research Center, Department of Hydrology, Uvira 73, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Mar García Alvarez: Materials & Process Engineering (iMMC-IMAP), UCLouvain, Place Sainte Barbe 2, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
Vida Sang Sefidi: Materials & Process Engineering (iMMC-IMAP), UCLouvain, Place Sainte Barbe 2, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
Estella Buleng Njoyim Tamungang: Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Dschang, Dschang 96, Cameroon
Théophile Ndikumana: Department of Chemistry, University of Burundi/Bujumbura, Bujumbura 1550, Burundi
Dieu-Donné Musibono: Department of the Environment, University of Kinshasa, Kinshasa 127, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Bart Van Der Bruggen: Process Engineering for Sustainable Systems (ProcESS), Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200F, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium
Patricia Luis: Materials & Process Engineering (iMMC-IMAP), UCLouvain, Place Sainte Barbe 2, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

Clean Technol., 2022, vol. 4, issue 4, 1-17

Abstract: This study evaluates the performance of commercial reverse osmosis (RO) and nanofiltration (NF) membranes for the removal of metal ions from synthetic water and surface water carried from the north-west of Lake Tanganyika in the city of Uvira, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Metal ion analyses were performed by the standardized ICP-MS and ICP-OES methods. The RO membrane showed higher metal ion rejection in high-concentration solutions (synthetic samples) prepared in the laboratory as well as in low-concentration samples from real raw water collected near Lake Tanganyika. Rejection levels were higher than 98% for Cr 3+ , Pb 2+ , Cd 2+ , As 3+ , Ni 2+ , and Sb +3 ions in the synthetic solutions, and 99.2, 98.8, 98.6, 99.2, 98.4, and 98.8%, respectively, in the real samples. The concentrations of metals in the permeate varied depending on the feed concentration and were 0.15 to 1.02 mg/L, 0.33 to 22 mg/L, and 0.11 to 22 mg/L in RO, NF90, and NF270 membranes, respectively. Regarding the NF membranes, the rejection of Cr, Ni, and Cd ions was interesting: 98.2, 97.8, and 92.3%, respectively. However, it was lower for Pb, As, and Sb ions: 76.9, 52.5 and 64.1%, respectively. The flux of NF was 329 to 375 L/m 2 .h, much higher than for RO membranes, which had a flux of 98 to 132 L/m 2 .h. The studied membranes are thus a feasible solution to remove the studied metals from real water sources at low concentrations since they meet the standards of the World Health Organization on specific values assigned to chemicals from industrial sources and human habitation areas where these ions are present in drinking water.

Keywords: reverse osmosis; nanofiltration; wastewater; heavy metals; Lake Tanganyika (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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