Alfin Kurniawan, Suryadi Ismadji, Felycia Edi Soetaredjo, Shella Permatasari Santoso, Maria Yuliansa, Adriana Anteng Anggorowati
The lack of access to clean and safe water for drinking and sanitation has become more prevalent in the past few years, especially affecting human populations in less-developed regions. Despite the abundance of water in the earth’s oceans, it is not suitable for most human applications due to the high salt concentration. Desalination has played a major role in the water industry to fulfill freshwater requirements in recent years, utilized in arid regions and geographic locations with insufficient freshwater resources. In reality, the global water desalination market has begun to look competitive with traditional water sources as the demand for clean fresh water increases. More importantly, the performance of current water desalination technologies can be dramatically improved through advances in nanotechnology. In this regard, the implementation of novel nanostructured materials is playing a central role in decreasing capital and operational costs of desalination, as well as making the separation process less energy-intensive and more environmentally friendly. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have received considerable attention in desalination processes as novel nanofillers for incorporation in polymeric matrices to fabricate advanced nanocomposite membranes with enhanced separation performance. The attractive features of these porous organic-inorganic crystalline solids, including extraordinarily high surface area, hierarchical porous structures, and outstanding thermal and chemical stability, have been exploited to rationally design advanced properties, such as high flux, fouling resistance, or high storage capacity materials. This chapter focuses on the potential applications of MOFs and their derived porous nanocomposite materials in water desalination, including membrane- and charge-based desalination technologies. Finally, the prospects and challenges for further developments in the dynamic field of MOF-based and MOF-derived nanocomposites are suggested. © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Department of Chemistry, National Sun Yat-Sen University, Kaohsiung, 80424, Taiwan; Department of Chemical Engineering, Widya Mandala Surabaya Catholic University, Surabaya, Indonesia