Oded Nir

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev | bgu · Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research (ZIWR)

Acid base properties such as pH, alkalinity and boron are essential components for the design and operation of seawater reverse osmosis desalination, influencing critical processes such as membrane scaling, biofouling and boron permeation. However, due to the high complexity of acid-base dynamics in both the retentate and permeate streams of revers...

We describe a new electro-enhanced sorption approach, where an electric field is applied across an ion-selective nano-composite membrane. Unlike capacitive deionization, here the membrane rather than the electrode functions as the sorbent, while the electrodes are inert. This electrode-sorbent decoupling extends the space of suitable sorption mater...

Mineral fouling is a major hindrance to high recovery effluent nanofiltration, with calcium phosphate (Ca-P) and calcium carbonate (CaCO3) the most prevalent mineral foulants. In this study, we used a...

This work addresses a key challenge of tailoring the ion selectivity of a thin-film composite nanofiltration membrane to a specific application, such as water softening, without altering the water permeability. We modified the active surface of a commercial NF270 membrane by molecular layer deposition (MLD) of ethylene glycol-Al (EG-alucone). With...

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Brackish water desalination is imperative for meeting water demands in arid regions far from the seashore. Reverse osmosis, the leading desalination technology, removes nearly all calcium and magnesium ions, which are essential in drinking and irrigation water. Multistep process schemes combining reverse osmosis with ion-selective membrane processe...

Drinking water contamination by per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) is a global concern. Nanofiltration is a promising PFAS removal technology due to its scalability and cost-effectiveness. However, nanofiltration cannot typically reduce PFAS concentrations below current drinking water recommendations. To enhance PFAS removal, we devel...

Production of certain pharmaceuticals generates wastewater with a high ammonia load, posing economic and environmental burdens. Recovering ammonia as a nitrogen fertilizer can alleviate these burdens and is vital from a circular economy perspective. For this purpose, this study, jointly performed by a research university and a large pharma company,...

Drinking-water contamination by per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) is a global concern. Nanofiltration is a promising PFAS removal technology due to its scalability and cost-effectiveness. However, nanofiltration cannot typically reduce PFAS concentrations below current drinking-water recommendations. To enhance PFAS removal, we devel...

Separation of specific ions from water could enable recovery and reuse of essential metals and nutrients, but established membrane technologies lack the high-precision selectivity needed to facilitate a circular resource economy. In this work, we investigate whether the cation/cation selectivity of a composite cation-exchange membrane (CEM), or a t...

Reactive transport modeling refers to the coupling of chemical equilibrium reactions with rate-dependent phenomena such as transport and phase change. The concept originated and is widely used in geosciences but has been infiltrating other fields. Reactive transport can contribute to model prediction and fundamental understanding of transport pheno...

Phosphoric acid production generates large volumes of industrial wastewater that cannot be treated efficiently by existing processes because of its low pH and high precipitation potential. At present, the wastewater is generally stored in evaporation ponds that are prone to breaches, leakage, and flooding. We developed an alternative three-step pro...

Phosphoric acid production generates large volumes of industrial wastewater that cannot be treated efficiently by existing processes because of its low pH and high precipitation potential. At present, the wastewater is generally stored in evaporation ponds that are prone to breaches, leakage, and flooding. We developed an alternative three-step pro...

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is an RNA virus, a member of the coronavirus family of respiratory viruses that includes severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 1 (SARS-CoV-1) and the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). It has had an acute and dramatic impact on health care systems, economies, and societies o...

Mineral fouling is a major hindrance to high recovery effluent nanofiltration, with calcium phosphate (Ca-P) and calcium carbonate (CaCO3) the most prevalent mineral foulants. In this study, we used a novel combination of real-time in-line microscopy, electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), post SEM analysis, and filtration metrics (water flux and...

Accounting for concentration-polarization (CP) is critical for modeling solute transport in membrane separation processes. In a mixed-electrolyte solution, ions CP is affected not only by diffusion and advection but also by electromigration. Yet, the classic film model, lacking an electromigration term, is frequently used for modeling ion CP. Often...

Accounting for concentration-polarization (CP) is critical for modeling solute transport in membrane separation processes. In a mixed-electrolyte solution, ions CP is affected not only by diffusion and advection but also by electromigration. Yet, the classic film model, lacking an electromigration term, is frequently used for modeling ion CP. Often...

Accounting for concentration-polarization (CP) is critical for modeling solute transport in membrane separation processes. In a mixed-electrolyte solution, ions CP is affected not only by diffusion and advection but also by electromigration. Yet, the classic film model, lacking an electromigration term, is frequently used for modeling ion CP. Often...

Desalination is becoming a vital part of the solution to water scarcity with a current worldwide desalination capacity of approx. 100 million m ³ /day, which is expected to grow by 40% by 2030. In 2019, 29% of the global desalination capacity was of brackish and river water (500-20000 ppm TDS). Most (98%) of the brackish water nowadays is desalinat...

Municipal sewage carries degraded and intact viral particles and RNA (ribonucleic acid) of SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2), shed by COVID-19 (coronavirus disease2019) patients, to sewage and eventually to wastewater treatment plants. Proper wastewater treatment can prevent uncontrolled discharges of thevirus into the environment...

Municipal sewage carries degraded and intact viral particles and RNA (ribonucleic acid) of SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2), shed by COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) patients, to sewage and eventually to wastewater treatment plants. Proper wastewater treatment can prevent uncontrolled discharges of the virus into the environme...

The desalination of brackish water provides water to tens of millions of people around the world, but current technologies deplete much needed nutrients from the water, which is determinantal to both public health and agriculture. A selective method for brackish water desalination, which retains the needed nutrients, is electrodialysis (ED) using m...

Saline groundwater (SGW) from coastal aquifers is an alternative source for seawater in reverse osmosis (RO) desalination, which holds several advantages over seawater. During seawater intrusion to the coastal aquifer,...

The municipal sewage carries the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), shed by COVID-19 patients, to wastewater treatment plants. Proper wastewater treatment can provide an important barrier for preventing uncontrolled discharged of the virus into the environment. However, the role of the different wastewater treatment stages in reducing virus concentratio...

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted public health and the worldwide economy. Converging evidence from the current pandemic, previous outbreaks and controlled experiments indicates that SARS-CoVs are present in wastewater for several days, leading to potential health risks via waterborne and aerosolized wastewater pathways. Conventional wast...

div> The desalination of brackish water provides water to tens of millions of people around the world, but current technologies deplete much needed nutrients from the water, which is detrimental to both public health and agriculture. A selective method for brackish water desalination, which retains the needed nutrients, is electrodialysis (ED) us...

A new process for the treatment of phosphoric acid industry wastewater is proposed. The technique comprises the following major steps: (1) selective removal of fluoride ions via reaction/adsorption with SiO2-containing particles; (2) microfiltration; and (3) flow electrode capacitive deionization (FCDI) for selective separation of phosphate ions. T...

A hybrid nanofiltration-electrodialysis process was developed and tested for highly-selective separation of MgSO4 from seawater. The magnesium-rich solution was produced primarily for replenishing Mg²⁺ into desalinated water within the post-treatment step in seawater desalination plants. The new three-step process consists of: (1) seawater nanofilt...

SARS-CoV-2 is an RNA virus, a member of the coronavirus family of respiratory viruses that includes SARS-CoV-1 and MERS. COVID-19, the clinical syndrome caused by SARS-CoV-2, has evolved into a global pandemic with more than 2,900,000 people infected. It has had an acute and dramatic impact on health care systems, economies, and societies of affect...

Heterogeneous nucleation induced by natural organic matter (NOM) can lower the energy barrier for calcium arsenate (Ca-As) precipitation, which aids in immobilizing arsenate (AsⅤ). However, it remains unclear how certain chemical functionalities of NOM affect Ca-As nucleation at the molecular scale. By analyzing changes in the local supersaturation...

Phosphorus (P) is an essential element for life that is introduced through feed in modern aquaculture—the fastest growing food production sector. P can also be a source of environmental contamination and eutrophication if mistreated. Fish assimilate only 20–40% of the applied P; the rest is released into the water. The goals of this research were t...

Ion exchange membranes hybridized with laser-induced graphene (LIG) might lead to membranes with functional surface effects such as antifouling, antibacterial or joule heating, however, understanding the change in the electrical properties of the membrane is essential. Here we studied LIG-modified ion-exchange polymeric membranes using electrochemi...

Phosphogypsum – a by-product of phosphoric acid production – piled near eco-sensitive regions, poses both environmental and health risks. By reacting phosphogypsum with NaOH, Ca(OH)2 is produced, which can be utilized for CO2 sequestration. The cost of NaOH, however, and the low market value of the byproduct, a concentrated Na2SO4 stream, hinder th...

Avoiding chemical scaling by sparingly soluble salts is a critical design component in desalination applications based on reverse osmosis. If not prevented, scaling can rapidly reduce membrane lifespan and performance while considerably increasing desalinated water production costs. Therefore, an important part of reverse osmosis process design is...

Operation of seawater reverse-osmosis (RO) desalination using high flux membranes at pH > 9 was shown to be an energy-efficient approach for single-pass boron removal. This operational approach was previously studied only at 25 °C, however since RO desalination is highly temperature-dependent, the current work tested the high-pH approach throughout...

Cross-flow ultrafiltration of colloidal suspensions is mainly limited by the accumulation of retained particles adjacent to the membrane surface. The hydrodynamic conditions in the feed channel strongly affect the mass transfer rate of colloids from the membrane surface to the bulk and is therefore an important control measure. A common approach fo...

Python-PHREEQC scripts for the geochemical modeling conducted in the paper

New regulations in many developed countries call for significant reduction in phosphorus concentration for effluents released to the environment. At the same time, recovery of phosphorus – a non-renewable resource used mainly as fertilizer – from anthropogenic waste is extensively studied and bolstered as a crucial component in maintaining future f...

Avoiding chemical scaling by sparingly soluble salts is a critical design component in desalination applications based on reverse osmosis. If not prevented, scaling can rapidly reduce membrane lifespan and performance while considerably increasing desalinated water production costs. Therefore, an important part of reverse osmosis process design is...

Reverse Osmosis Design software and software by antiscalant chemicals suppliers cannot predict concentrate pH. As a result scaling tendency cannot be correctly assessed. This presentations explains why and presents a new simulation tool as a solution.

Boron removal from desalinated seawater is essential for obtaining high quality water, suitable for irrigation. Removal of boron by RO (reverse osmosis), the leading desalination technology, is significantly affected by variations in feed water temperature. Nevertheless, a widely agreed quantitative method for describing the temperature effect on t...

Understanding the separation, concentration and purification processes of soft nanoparticles is essential for numerous applications in water filtration, bioprocessing and blood separation. Here we report unique translocation and rejection features of sub-micron sized microgels during frontal filtration using membranes having micron-sized porosity....

Calcium sulphate is one of the most common components responsible for inorganic scaling in industrial heat exchangers and desalination plants. Insoluble scales cause problems like material degradation and a decrease of process efficiency. This is a major challenge for wastewater containing high concentrations of calcium sulphate, e.g. power plant a...

Acid-base properties such as pH, alkalinity and boron speciation are essential factors for the design and operation of seawater reverse osmosis desalination, as they influence critical processes such as membrane scaling, biofouling and boron permeation. However, due to the high complexity of acid-base dynamics in both the retentate and permeate str...

Efficient removal of seawater boron species in reverse osmosis (RO) plants is gaining momentum as the guidelines for maximal B concentrations in desalinated water are becoming stricter, driven by the adverse effects that boron has on agricultural crops at concentrations higher than ∼0.7 mg/L. This chapter explores alternatives for reducing B concen...

The transport of hydronium and hydroxide ions through reverse osmosis membranes constitutes a unique case of ionic species characterized by uncommonly high permeabilities. Combined with electromigration, this leads to complex behavior of permeate pH, e.g., negative rejection, as often observed for monovalent ions in nanofiltration of salt mixtures....

A new operational approach is presented, which has the potential to substantially cut down on the energy and cost demand associated with seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination, without changing the currently-installed infrastructure. The approach comprises acidification/decarbonation of the feed seawater followed by high-pH single RO pass usi...

Seawater nanofiltration (SWNF) generates a softened permeate stream and a retentate stream in which the multivalent ions accumulate, offering opportunities for practical utilization of both streams. This study presents an approach to simulation of SWNF including all major seawater ions (Na+, Cl-, Ca2+, Mg2+, and SO42-) based on the Nernst-Planck eq...

The boron isotopic composition of calcium carbonate skeletons is a promising proxy method for reconstructing paleo-ocean pH and atmospheric CO2 from the geological record. Although the boron isotope methodology has been used extensively over the past two decades to determine ancient ocean-pH, the actual value of the boron isotope fractionation fact...

A tool for designing struvite precipitation processes based on chemical equilibrium. *Easy to use graphical interface; *Cost breakdown; *Choose between different Mg(II) salts and alkalinity sources; *Mix treated water with Mg(II) rich solutions; *Apply CO2 stripping by aeration; Full description and demonstrations are found in Birnhack et al. 2015...

Struvite (MgNH4PO4) precipitation has been the topic of extensive research in the last two decades and is expected to gather worldwide momentum in the near future as a P-reuse technique. A wide range of operational alternatives have been reported for struvite precipitation, including the application of various Mg(II) sources, two pH-elevation techn...

Measuring and modeling pH in concentrated aqueous solutions in an accurate and consistent manner is of paramount importance to many R&D and industrial applications, including RO desalination. Nevertheless, unified definitions and standard procedures have yet to be developed for solutions with ionic strength higher than ∼0.7 M, and implementation of...

Abstract: The importance of supplying drinking water with a balanced mineral composition, including a minimal concentration of Mg(II) ions, has been recently acknowledged by many publications, as well as in official WHO guidelines. The issue is relevant to naturally occurring soft waters and lately to the rapidly increasing volume of supplied desal...

A new simulation approach is presented for predicting boron concentrations in the product water of seawater reverse osmosis operations. The new (numerical) approach links traditional mass-transfer models (the solution–diffusion transport approach and the concentration polarization film-layer model) with full aqueous-phase thermodynamic species char...

Despite appearing at relatively low concentrations, weak acids of various types have a significant impact on the design, operation and the quality of the product water in many RO (reverse osmosis) applications. During the RO process, weak acid species are simultaneously involved in interconnected transport and chemical reactions. This complex behav...

A different approach is presented for the operation of seawater RO desalination plants in which the boron concentration in the product water should not exceed 0.3 mgB/l. The approach is based on strong acid (either H2SO4 or HCl) dosage to the feed water to attain pH ∼ 4.3, followed by CO2 stripping and subsequently strong base addition to pH 9.00–9...

A different approach for the operation of seawater reverse osmosis desalination plants, in which the boron concentration in the product water should not exceed 0.3 mgB/L, was recently introduced. The new approach is based on strong acid (either H2SO4 or HCl) dosage to the feed seawater to attain pH ∼ 4.3, followed by almost complete CO2 stripping a...