Francesco Galiano

Italian National Research Council | CNR · Institute on Membrane Technology ITM

High-performance and sustainable membranes for water desalination applications are crucial to address the growing global demand for clean water. Concurrently, electrospinning has emerged as a versatile manufacturing method for fabricating nanofibrous membranes for membrane distillation. However, widespread adoption of electrospinning for processing...

Supplementary Information

This study explores the development of chitosan-based membranes blended with three distinct deep eutectic solvents (DESs) for the pervaporation separation of methanol and methyl tert-butyl ether. DESs were selected for their eco-friendly properties and their potential to enhance membrane performance. The chitosan (CS) membranes, both crosslinked an...

Increasing global water shortages are accelerating the pace of membrane manufacturing, which generates many environmentally harmful solvents. Such challenges need a radical rethink of developing innovative membranes that can address freshwater production without generating environmentally harmful solvents. This work utilized the synthesized ultra-l...

Enhancement of alkaline water electrolysis requires to develop anion exchange membranes (AEMs) combining high permselectivity with low resistance to ions transport and stability during prolonged contact with concentrated alkaline solution. We now report that CytroCell@PIL, a mixed matrix membrane obtained by a synergic combination of CytroCell micr...

The low-fouling propensity of commercially available polyethersulfone (PES) membranes was studied after modification of the membrane surface via coating with polymerizable bicontinuous microemulsion (PBM) materials. The PBM coating was polymerized within 1 min using ultraviolet (UV) light exposure. It was detected on the PES membrane surface via at...

The use of traditional biocidal products in cultural heritage has suffered a slowdown due to the risks related to human health and the environment. Thus, many studies have been carried out with the aim of testing innovative and environmentally friendly alternatives. In this framework, this review attempts to provide an overview of some novel potent...

Polymeric membranes are useful tools for water filtration processes, with their performance strongly dependent on the presence of hydrophilic dopants. In this study, polyaniline (PANI)-capped aluminosilicate (halloysite) nanotubes (HNTs) are dispersed into polyether sulfone (PES), with concentrations ranging from 0.5 to 1.5 wt%, to modify the prope...

The development of polymeric fabrics with photoinduced antibacterial activity is important for different emerging applications, ranging from materials for medical and clinical practices to disinfection of objects for public use. In this work we prepared a series of cellulose acetate membranes, by means of phase inversion technique, introducing diff...

This paper aims to establish a new sustainable membrane with antifouling properties by developing a structured porous membrane with a honeycomb-like surface fabricated by blending polymers and additives via immersion precipitation and using a thermally induced phase inversion method coupled with exposure time to vapor. The hydrophilicity properties...

Multilayer ceramic membranes to be used for bacteria removal by filtration were prepared from ceramic materials. They consist of a macro-porous carrier, an intermediate layer and a thin separation layer at the top. Tubular and flat disc supports were prepared from silica sand and calcite (natural raw materials), using extrusion and uniaxial pressin...

In membrane-based water purification technology, control of the membrane pore structure is fundamental to defining its performance. The present study investigates the effect of the preparation conditions on the final pore size distribution and on the dye removal efficiency of cellulose acetate membranes. The membranes were fabricated by means of ph...

This chapter focuses on electrospun membranes produced by the electrospinning process for air filtration applications. Air pollution, above all in metropolitan and highly populated cities, can be characterized by particulate (PM2.5 and PM0.1) or gaseous pollutants that can be captured by different mechanisms employing electrospun membranes. The fil...

Membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology has attracted great attention over the last 3 decades and achieved rapid growth in an increasing number of practical small‐ and large‐scale applications worldwide. However, its application in Sub-Saharan Africa as well as in aquaculture was so far limited. The installation and operation of a pilot membrane biore...

The Chinese pharmaceutical industry and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) are both vital components of Chinese culture. Some traditional methods used to prepare TCMs have lost their conformity, and as a result, are producing lower-quality medicines. In this regard, the TCM sector has been looking for new ways to boost productivity and product qual...

Biodegradation is among the most common issues affecting Cultural Heritage stone materials in outdoor environments. In recent years, the application of chemical agents with biocidal activity has been the most usual practice when dealing with biofilm removal. In outdoor environments , the use of these biocides is not effective enough, since the mate...

Air pollution is one of the major environmental concerns in most highly populated cities, which is typically caused by particulate (PM2.5 and PM0.1) or gaseous pollutants. In this framework, membranes produced by the electrospinning technique are attracting more and more interest thanks to their peculiar properties such as interconnected pore struc...

This work deals with the utilization of the poly(lactic acid) (PLA) to fabricate biopolymer membranes by phase inversion technique for the treatment of gaseous streams rich in CO2 and CH4. PLA is an excellent biopolymer constituting a viable option to most of the traditional fossil-based polymers, possessing zero environmental impact once exhausted...

Endowing anti‐fouling capabilities to water treatment membranes is a key feature for their long lifetime, but it continues to be a challenging task. Herein, a strategy for preparing composite membranes is reported comprising halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) as scaffolds to support a ruthenium substituted polyoxometalate (Ru4POM), with the goal of using...

Pervaporation (PV) has been known a rapid growth in the last 20 years as a valid membrane process, over other conventional techniques, for the recovery of aroma compounds from agro-food systems. PV is based on the use of non-porous membranes which selectively regulate the transport of target molecules dissolved in a liquid feed mixture. PV is parti...

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) and natural deep eutectic solvents (NADESs, derived from natural-source molecules) were used for the first time in the preparation of porous poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and poly(acrylonitrile) (PAN) membranes. Halogen-free Brønsted acidic DES and zwitterionic carboxy- and sulfo-betaines DESs and NADESs were select...

A membrane can be defined as a selective barrier which separates two phases, regulating the transport of various chemical species between the two compartments. Specifically, it is possible to distinguish homogeneous or heterogeneous membranes, with symmetric or asymmetric structure or again they may be positive or negative superficial charges, etc....

Within the prospect to develop a more sustainable solution for the membrane fabrication sector, this work aims to investigate a new combination of bio-based materials, including a polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) as a polymer and Cyrene™ as a solvent, for the phase inversion process. The herein studied poly(hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBHV) is...

In this work, Rhodiasolv® PolarClean was employed as a more sustainable solvent for the preparation of poly(vinylidene fluoride-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP) flat sheet membranes via phase inversion technique by coupling vapour induced phase separation (VIPS) and non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) processes. Preliminary calculations base...

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are a new class of solvents that can offset some of the major drawbacks of common solvents and ionic liquids. When dealing with the preparation of dense membranes, the use of DESs is still challenging due to their low compatibility with the polymer phase. In this research, a novel L-proline:sulfolane (molar ratio 1:2)...

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are a new class of solvents that can offset some of the primary drawbacks of typical solvents and ionic liquids (ILs). Since DESs fall into the guidelines of “Twelve Principles of Green Chemistry”, their implementation in several types of applications has exponentially increased over the last years. The usage of DESs h...

Tamisolve® NxG, a well-known non-toxic solvent, was used for poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membranes preparation via a non-solvent-induced phase separation (NIPS) procedure with water as a coagulation bath. Preliminary investigations, related to the study of the physical/chemical properties of the solvent, the solubility parameters, the gel tran...

The presence of copper in aquatic environment is a serious threat for human health and ecosystem conservation. Adsorption is a powerful, operable and economic method for remediation of copper ions from aqueous phase. Carbohydrate biopolymers have emerged as promising, effective and environmental-friendly adsorbents for copper remediation. In part A...

An unprecedented solution for alleviating non-restorable fouling in water treatment membrane processes is herein proposed and described. A novel smart material with oxygenic activity was developed starting from a polymerizable bicontinuous microemulsion (PBM) containing a surfactant encapsulated polyoxometalate (SEP) as catalyst. This material (PBM...

Developing new materials for the separation of gas mixtures is a key subject in setting up a circular economy. In this work, we report the synthesis and application of novel polymeric membranes, based on polymerized ionic liquids (PILs), to be used for CO2 separation from different gas pairs. Phosphonium-based PILs have been copolymerized within an...

In recent decades, membrane technologies have attracted a lot of interest in operations for highly selective separations. Particularly, pervaporation (PV), vapour permeation (VP) and membrane distillation (MD) represent three membrane processes well-studied and applied at the research level and with a great potential of exploitation in different in...

As a promising technique for multiphase catalytic reactions, the widespread applications of gas–liquid– solid microreactors are still limited by poor durability. Hence, in this work a novel catalytic membrane was synthesised for carrying out the hydrogenation reaction of a bio-oil model compounds. A PEEK-WC membrane was obtained by VIPS/ NIPS techn...

A microporous carboxylate metal-organic framework MIL-100 Fe was prepared as submicron particles by microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis (Fe-MOF-MW). This product was explored, for the first time, for the preparation of polylactic acid (PLA) mixed matrix membranes. The produced MOF was characterised by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), environm...

Pervaporation (PV) has been potentially identified as a candidate in replacing the conventional distillation since it possesses the ability to separate azeotropic solvent mixtures. At a large scale, PV has been mainly involved within hybrid processes for the dehydration of organics toward their purification. Considering that the membrane is the pri...

Herein, we have evaluated the impact of orientated edge-oxidized graphene oxide nanoplatelets (EOGO) in polyether sulfone (PES) membrane on the pure water permeability (PWP) and organic dye molecule rejection values. Aligned PES/EOGO nanocomposite films were prepared through electric field induction. Morphological, structural and chemical-physical...

Currently, the continuous research on new membrane technologies is oriented to find innovative solutions, including the use of environmentally friendly materials, for the preparation of polymeric membranes and their utilization in gas separation keeping a particular focus at the circular economy approach. In particular, membrane processes applied t...

Carbon-based nanostructures are considered promising materials for gas storage thanks to robust structure, tunable porosity, lightweight, high thermal/chemical stability and easy production. This study reports the development of activated carbon fibers prepared from commercial Kevlar® through an innovative pyrolysis method, consisting of carbonizat...

Membrane modification is becoming ever more relevant for mitigating fouling phenomena within wastewater treatment applications. Past research included a novel low-fouling coating using polymerizable bicontinuous microemulsion (PBM) induced by UV-LED polymerization. This additional cover layer deteriorated the filtration capacity significantly, pote...

In this study, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)-graphene oxide (GO) membranes were obtained by employing triethyl phosphate (TEP) as a solvent. GO nanosheets were prepared and characterized in terms of scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM, respectively), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), chem...

Copper is one of the most toxic heavy metals which must be eliminated from aqueous environments, according to the environmental standards. Carbohydrate biopolymers are promising candidates for synthesizing copper-adsorbent composites. It is due to unique properties such as having potential adsorptive functional sites, availability, biocompatibility...

In this work, low-cost ceramic clay ultra-filtration membranes have been fabricated with a low sintering temperature, using natural aluminosilicate nanotubes (Halloysite) for the separation of macromolecular proteins. Tubular supports for membranes were prepared from quartz sand and calcite (natural materials) using the extrusion method. The effect...

In this work, for the first time, Polarclean® was used as eco-friendly sustainable solvent for preparing Polyethersulfone (PES) hollow fiber membranes via non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) technique. After a preliminary study on the dope solution viscosity, the hollow fibers were prepared by non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) tec...

Lake Victoria is a shared water resource between Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, which is the second largest freshwater lake in the world. It has long since suffered from the consequences of overexploitation of its resources, mainly fish stocks, and increasingly high pollution. The closure of 58% of the fish processing plants (FPPs) is attributed to th...

A novel PVDF-graphene composite membrane has been developed. Specifically, a commercial PVDF polymer has been suitably functionalized with the aromatic rings of styrene (PVDF-f) and characterized by spectroscopic techniques. This new material has been used as a base for the adhesion of graphene, owing to the interaction between graphene and the aro...

Electrospinning is an emerging technique for the preparation of electrospun fiber membranes (ENMs), and a very promising one on the basis of the high-yield and the scalability of the process according to a process intensification strategy. Most of the research reported in the literature has been focused on the preparation of poly (vinylidene fluori...

Dimethyl isosorbide (DMI) – a well-known bio-based high boiling green solvent – was used, for the first time in the preparation of Poly(vinylidene fluoride)- and Polyethersulfone-based membranes. Preliminary thermodynamic (Hansen and Hildebrand solubility parameters, relative energy difference) and kinetic (viscosity) studies on DMI confirmed that...

Membrane preparation via phase inversion requires the use of solvents that presents in most cases a significant risk to health. Hence, the substitution of toxic solvents by others greener or more sustainable choices becomes a need. In this work, more sustainable solvents such as butyl acetate and liquid paraffin were used to prepare recycled low-de...

Since several decades ago, the application of pervaporation (PV) technology has been mainly aimed at the separation of different types of water-organic, organic-water and organic–organic mixtures, reaching its large-scale application in industry for the dehydration of organics. Today, the versatility and high selectivity toward specific compounds h...

In this review, the recent achievements on the use of membrane technologies in catalytic carbonylation reactions are described. The review starts with a general introduction on the use and function of membranes in assisting catalytic chemical reactions with a particular emphasis on the most widespread applications including esterification, oxidatio...

Highly hydrophilic inorganic material graphene oxide (GO)was successfully prepared and incorporated into a cross-linked poly(vinyl alcohol)(PVA)matrix. The obtained mixed matrix membranes (MMMs)have been used for the dehydration of ethanol (10:90% water-ethanol)by pervaporation (PV), monitoring their performance in terms of total permeate flux, par...

Polyvinylidenefluoride (PVDF) hollow fiber membranes prepared in laboratory through the inversion phase method were characterized and used to clarify an aqueous extract from red wine lees. Steady-state permeate fluxes of 53 kg/m2h were obtained in the treatment of the aqueous extract in selected operating conditions. Suspended solids were completel...

New polymeric films with antibacterial activity have been prepared, by simple UV-induced copolymerization of readily available ω-(acryloyloxy)-N,N,N-triethylalcan-1-aminium bromides (or acryloyloxyalkyltriethylammonium bromides, AATEABs) with commercially available 2-hydroethyl methacrylate (HEMA), at different relative amounts. In particular, the...

The possibility of replacing traditional toxic solvents normally employed during the preparation of polymeric membranes with greener alternatives represents a great challenge for safeguarding the human health and protecting the environment. In this work, an improved and pleasant-smelling version of dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), i.e., DMSO EVOL™, was us...

Graphene oxide (GO)-polyimide mixed matrix membranes (MMMs)were produced using chloroform by solvent evaporation. These membranes have been used, for the first time, in pervaporation (PV)for the separation of azeotropic methanol (MeOH)- methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE)mixtures (14.3 and 85.7%, respectively). The effect of GO loading in the PV process...

In this work, for the first time, porous Matrimid ® 5218 membranes were prepared by employing a combination of vapour induced phase separation (VIPS)and non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS)technique. N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP)and Rhodiasolv ® Polarclean were used as a traditional and new green solvent, respectively, for the preparation of...

In this work, Cyrene™ was employed for the first time as solvent for polyethersulfone (PES) and poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membrane preparation via phase inversion. The two selected polymers are among the most required materials in the industrial membrane field. PES and PVDF membranes were prepared by coupling Vapour Induced- and Non-solvent...

The approach of the present work is based on the use of poly (methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) polymer, which is compatible with PVDF and TiO 2 nanoparticles in casting solutions, for the preparation of nano-composites membranes using a safer and more compatible solvent. TiO 2 embedded poly (vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF)/PMMA photocatalytic membranes were...

Polymeric membrane technology applied to gas separation is seen as a valuable alternative to conventional systems due to its ease integrability with existing plant, its lower energy consumption, and its flexibility when scaling up. It constitutes a cheaper solution because, in accordance with the principles of process intensification strategy, real...