PolyMer-Derived nON-Oxide ceramic MEmbranes for wastewater treatment – MONOME

With the growing need for clean potable water, the membrane field has become one of the most important technologies for wastewater treatment. However, numerous bottlenecks prevent conventional membranes from viable developments at fundamental and industrial levels. These bottlenecks are associated to a limited control of the composition, the structure and the shape of the membrane as well as a stability and fouling problem. Polymer-derived non-oxide ceramics (non-oxide PDCs) are expected to tackle these problems by developing innovative multifunctional membranes for seperating complex mixtures in severe environments thanks to their exclusive properties. MONOME aims to design novel 3D complex-shaped porous non-oxide ceramic membranes for wastewater treatment against oil and biocontaminants . To achieve this objective, rational designs will be developed through cutting-edge approaches for controlling i) the synthesis of precursors, ii) the macro- and microstructure of the derived ceramics as well as iii) the porosity and surface properties. I thus propose to combine, for the first, molecular engineering of precursors via the PDCs route, Additive Manufacturing and Atomic Layer Deposition. The membranes performance will be assessed for oil/water separation and pathogens removal through ultrafiltration process. MONOME is expected to generate breakthroughs for both fields of ceramics and separation membranes by the demonstration of efficient, cost-effective membranes for water purification with unprecedented stability that can be compatible for industrial applications.