On photocatalytic membrane reactors in water and wastewater treatment and organic synthesis

A brief overview of hybrid photocatalysis-membrane processes and their possible applications in water/wastewater treatment and organic synthesis is presented. Moreover, a short introduction to photocatalysis is shown. The paper summarizes the main advantages and disadvantages of photocatalytic membrane reactors (PMRs) with photocatalytic membranes or a photocatalyst in suspension. Furthermore, the influence of photocatalysis on membranes performance in terms of fouling and efficiency of removal of organic contaminants during treatment of water and wastewater is discussed. In the second part of the review the examples showing the possibilities of application of PMRs in recovery of valuable compounds (benzaldehyde, vanillin) or photocatalytic partial oxidation of benzene to phenol are presented. It was concluded that PMRs exhibit numerous advantages over the conventional photoreactors, however, further investigations are still needed in order to improve the hybrid processes performance