Wastewaters from high-tech industries, such as those generated during semiconductor and battery manufacturing processes, contain a wide range of harsh chemical contaminants that pose a significant threat to the stable performance of membrane-based separations. Our goal is to develop chemically- and mechanically-robust membranes that are able to provide stable separation performances under the most challenging pressure, temperature, and salinity conditions.

Zero liquid discharge (ZLD) refers to wastewater management strategies that eliminate liquid waste exiting the facility and target near 100% water recovery and reuse. Energy- and cost-effective ZLD desalination is available with membrane-based technologies. Our research plan is to develop high-performance membranes enabling the membrane-based ZLD desalination including (i) highly selective nanofiltration (NF) membranes (ii) high-pressure reverse osmosis (RO) membranes and (iii) NF and RO membranes with ultimate scaling resistance.