New polymeric and inorganic membrane materials for water separation

Overuse and exploitation of water resources have caused the global water crisis. To overcome the problem, wastewater reuse has become essential for the survival of humankind. Hence, humans must depend on technologies that efficiently separate contaminants from water and make it reusable for domestic, agricultural, and industrial utilization. To achieve this, membrane technology is the ideal technology, so it has been pursued for the same reason over many decades. It has undergone extensive research and development in its materials processing, fabrication, and applications. In order to achieve a high degree of efficiency in the separation process, there is a need for new membrane materials as conventional materials are not sustainable and efficient enough to separate pollutants like heavy metals, pathogens, dyes, natural organic matter, inorganic salts, and other emerging contaminants from the water. This chapter presents different classifications of membranes and mainly discusses the development of new polymeric and inorganic membrane materials, their performance, application, and the challenges that need to be addressed for their usage in membrane technology-based water separation.