Search

Water and energy are two strategic drivers of sustainable development, intimately interlaced and vital for a secure future of humanity. Given that water resources are limited, whereas global population and energy demand are exponentially growing, the competitive balance between these resources, referred to as the water-energy nexus, is receiving renewed focus. The desalination industry alleviates water stress by producing freshwater from saline sources, such as seawater, brackish or groundwater. Since the last decade, the market has been dominated by membrane desalination technology, offering significant advantages over thermal processes, such as lower energy demand, easy process control and scale-up, modularity for flexible productivity, and feasibility of synergic integration of different membrane operations. Although seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) accounts for more than 70% of the global desalination capacity, it is circumscribed by some significant technological limitations, such as: (i) the relatively low water recovery factor (around 50%) due to the negative impact of osmotic and polarization phenomena; (ii) an energy consumption in the range of 3–5 kWh m ^−3 , still far from the theoretical energy demand (1.1 kWh m ^−3 ) to produce potable water from seawater (at 50% water recovery factor). Ultimately, desalination is an energy intensive practice and research efforts are oriented toward the development of alternative and more energy-efficient approaches in order to enhance freshwater resources without placing excessive strain on limited energy supplies. Recent years have seen a relevant surge of interest in membrane distillation (MD), a thermally driven membrane desalination technology having the potential to complement SWRO in the logic of Process Intensification and Zero Liquid Discharge paradigm. Due to its peculiar transport mechanism and negligibility of osmotic phenomena, MD allows high-quality distillate production (theoretically, non-volatile species are completely rejected) with a recovery factor of up to 80% at a relatively low operative temperature (typically 60 °C–80 °C). Although low operative temperatures make MD technology attractive for renewable power applications (e.g. solar thermal, wind or geothermal energy sources) or for efficient exploitation of low-grade or waste heat streams, the low energy efficiency intrinsically due to heat losses—and specifically to temperature polarization—has so far hindered the application at industrial scale. Nowadays, photothermal materials able to absorb and convert natural or artificial irradiation into heat have gained great attention, demonstrating the potential to mitigate the ‘anthropic’ energy input to MD and to mitigate the impact of thermal inefficiencies. On this road, a step-change improvement in light-to-heat conversion is expected through high-throughput computational screening over thermoplasmonic materials based on electronic and optical properties of advanced materials including novel topological phases of matter used as nanofillers in polymeric membranes. Coherently with the concept of Circular Economy, waste hypersaline solutions rejected from desalination process (referred as ‘brine’) are now the subject of valorization activities along two main exploitation routes: (1) recovery of valuable minor and trace metals and minerals, with special focus on critical raw materials (including, among others, Mg, Na, Ca, K, Sr, Li, Br, B, and Rb); (2) production of salinity gradient power (SGP) renewable energy resulting from the recovery of the Gibbs energy of mixing (mainly represented by the entropic contribution) of two solutions having different ionic concentration. The exciting new frontier of sustainable mining of seawater concentrates is accelerating the appearance of a plethora of innovative membrane materials and methods for brine dehydration and selective extraction of trace ions, although under the sword of Damocles represented by cost feasibility for reliable commercial application. On the other hand, among several emerging technologies, reverse electrodialysis (SGP-RED) was already proven capable—at least at the kW scale–of turning the chemical potential difference between river water, brackish water, and seawater into electrical energy. Efforts to develop a next generation of ion exchange membranes exhibiting high perm-selectivity (especially toward monovalent ions) and low electrical resistance, to improve system engineering and to optimize operational conditions, pursue the goal of enhancing the low power density so far achievable (in the order of a few W per m ^2 ). This Roadmap takes the form of a series of short contributions written independently by worldwide experts in the topic. Collectively, such contributions provide a comprehensive picture of the current state of the art in membrane science and technology at the water-energy nexus, and how it is expected to develop in the future. In addition, this Roadmap acknowledges the challenges and advances in membrane systems, particularly emphasizing the interplay of material innovation and system optimization, which collectively contribute to advancing the desalination field within the water-energy nexus framework.

Abstract In this study, pomegranate peels (PPs) as an abundant fruit processing waste was used to produce cost-effective, eco-friendly, and high-quality activated carbon. The produced carbon (fossil free activated carbon) was used for immobilizing laccase to remove a range of emerging pollutants namely diclofenac, amoxicillin, carbamazepine, and ciprofloxacin from water and wastewater. The loaded activated carbon by laccase (LMPPs) and the unloaded one (MPPs) were characterized using advanced surface chemistry analysis techniques. MPPs was found to have a porous structure with a large surface area and an abundance of acidic functional groups. Laccase immobilization reduced surface area but added active degradation sites. The optimal immobilization parameters were determined as pH 4, 35 °C, and a laccase concentration of 2.5 mg/mL resulting in a 69.8% immobilization yield. The adsorption of the emerging pollutant onto MPPs is best characterized as a spontaneous endothermic process that adheres to the Langmuir isotherm and first-order kinetics. Using synergistic adsorption and enzymatic degradation, the target pollutants (50 mg/L) were eliminated in 2 h. In both water types, LMPPs outperformed MPPs. This study shows that pomegranate peels can effectively be harnessed as an enzyme carrier and adsorbent for the removal of emerging pollutants even from a complex sample matrix. The removal of contaminants from wastewater lasted five cycles, whereas it continued up to six cycles for water.

A vast amount of phosphorus is being wasted or inefficiently utilized in wastewater treatment sludge worldwide. This paper investigates the adsorptive loading of phosphorus from the sludge on different biosolid materials for potential recovery and after use. The phosphorus was leached with acid from wastewater sludge from a chemical P removal process and adsorbed onto four different waste-based biosolid materials. The four biosolids were biochar, commercial lignin, sludge char (pyrolyzed wastewater treatment sludge), and humus (extracted from black liquor). Among the studied biosolids, loaded sludgechar had the highest phosphorus content, yet all materials performed well in P-adsorption. Optimal leaching and adsorption conditions were identified as pH 3 and adsorbent dosage between 0.5 g/L and 0.61 g/L for all biomaterials. The highest adsorption capacity value reached 400–500 mg/g with temperature-dependence. Biosolid materials were characterized with FT-IR, SEM-EDS, XRF, XRD, and XPS. Mathematical modeling through kinetic adsorption models showed that all biomaterials obey a pseudo first order kinetic model, and pore and intra-particle diffusion contribute to the adsorption mechanisms. The isotherm models suggest that the adsorbents are heterogeneous, and the adsorbate physiochemically bond with the functional groups of adsorbents with different adsorptive energies. The process is temperature-dependent and endothermic. XPS and XRD analyses showed that phosphorus adsorbed on the materials is mostly phosphate bound with Fe and Ca. Overall recovery efficiency was 21% (P bound on biosolids / P in sludge before leaching). Such phosphorus-loaded biomaterials are promising for use as feasible slow-release fertilizers.

The Dual Stage Pressure Retarded Osmosis technique is considered for power generation. The influence of feed flow rates, hydraulic pressure, and pressure drop on mass transfer and solute diffusion in a full-scale membrane model was investigated for the first time to maximize power generation. Dead Sea-seawater, Dead Sea-reverse osmosis brine, reverse osmosis brine-wastewater, and seawater-wastewater salinity gradient resources were investigated for power generation. Results revealed a 71.07% increase in the specific power generation due to the dual-stage pressure retarded osmosis process optimization using Dead Sea-seawater salinity gradient resources. The increase in the specific power generation due to the dual-stage pressure retarded osmosis optimization was 108.8%, 63.18%, and 133.54%, respectively, for Dead Sea-reverse osmosis brine, reverse osmosis brine-wastewater, and seawater-wastewater salinity gradient resources. At optimum operating conditions, using the dual-stage pressure retarded osmosis process as an alternative to the single pressure retarded osmosis process achieved up to a 22% increase in the energy output. Interestingly, the hydraulic pressure at optimum operating conditions was slightly higher than the average osmotic pressure gradients in the dual-stage pressure retarded osmosis process. The study also revealed that power generation in the dual-stage pressure retarded osmosis process operating at constant mass transfer and solute resistivity parameters was overestimated by 2.8%.

Arsenic (As) is an emerging contaminant on a global scale posing threat to environmental and human health. The relatively brief history of the applications of biochar and bone char has mapped the endeavors to remove As from water to a considerable extent. This critical review attempts to provide a comprehensive overview for the first time on the potential of bio- and bone-char in the immobilization of inorganic As in water. It seeks to offer a rational assessment of what is existing and what needs to be done in future research as an implication for As toxicity of human health risks through acute and chronic exposure to As contaminated water. Bio- and bone-char are recognized as promising alternatives to activated carbon due to their lower production and activation cost. The surface modification via chemical methods has been adopted to improve the adsorption capacity for anionic As species. Surface complexation, ion exchange, precipitation and electrostatic interactions are the main mechanisms involved in the adsorption of As onto the char surface. However, arsenic-bio-bone char interactions along with their chemical bonding for the removal of As in aqueous solution is still a subject of debate. Hence, the proposed mechanisms need to be scrutinized further using advanced analytical techniques such as synchrotron-based X-ray. Moving this technology from laboratory phase to field scale applications is an urgent necessity in order to establish a sustainable As mitigation in drinking water on a global scale. Keywords: Inorganic arsenic, Engineered biochar, Bone char, Surface modification, Sorption capacity, Immobilization

Millions of people around the world suffer from or prone to health problems caused by high concentration of fluoride in drinking water sources. One of the environmentally friendly and cost-effective ways for removing fluoride is the use of bone char. In this review, the structural properties and binding affinity of fluoride ions from different water sources was critically discussed. The effect of experimental conditions on enhancing the adsorption capacity of fluoride ions using bone char samples was addressed. It appears that surface properties, and conditions of the bone char production such as temperature and residence time play an important role in designing the optimal fluoride removal process. The optimum temperature for fluoride removal seems to be in the range of 500–700 °C and a residence time of 2 h. Applying various equilibrium adsorption isotherms for understanding fluoride adsorption mechanism was presented. The effect of bone char modification with different elements were discussed and recommendations for a further increase in the removal efficiency was proposed. Cost of bone char production and large-scale treatment systems were also discussed based on information available from scientific and commercial sources. Challenges with existing domestic defluoridation designs were highlighted and suggestions for new conceptual designs were provided. Keywords: Fluoride removal by bone char, Surface modification, Sorption capacity, Mechanism of fluoride removal, Cost, Conceptual designs

This work aims to investigate biofuels for diesel engines produced on a lab-scale from the fresh water microalgae Chlorella vulgaris (FWM-CV). The impact of growing conditions on the properties of biodiesel produced from FWM-CV was evaluated. The properties of FWM-CV biodiesel were found to be within the ASTM standards for biodiesel. Due to the limited amount of biodiesel produced on the lab-scale, the biomass of dry cells of FWM-CV was used to yield emulsified water fuel. The preparation of emulsion fuel with and without FWM-CV cells was conducted using ultrasound to overcome the problems of large size microalgae colonies and to form homogenized emulsions. The emulsified water fuels, prepared using ultrasound, were found to be stable and the size of FWM-CV colonies were effectively reduced to pass through the engine nozzle safely. Engine tests at 3670 rpm were conducted using three fuels: cottonseed biodiesel CS-B100, emulsified cottonseed biodiesel water fuel, water and emulsifier (CS-E20) and emulsified water containing FWM-CV cells CS-ME20. The results showed that the brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) was increased by about 41% when the engine was fueled with emulsified water fuels compared to CS-B100. The engine power, exhaust gas temperature, NOx and CO2 were significantly lower than that produced by CS-B100. The CS-ME20 produced higher power than CS-E20 due to the heating value improvement as a result of adding FWM-CV cells to the fuel.

Agricultural runoff is a major cause of degradation to freshwater sources. Nitrate is of particular interest, due to the abundant use of nitrogen-based fertilizers in agricultural practices globally. This study investigated the nitrate removal of biochar produced from an agricultural waste product, macadamia nutshell (MBC). Kinetic experiments and structural analyses showed that MBC pyrolsed at 900 °C exhibited inferior NO3− removal compared to that pyrolsed at 1000 °C, which was subsequently used in the column experiments. Concentrations of 5, 10 and 15 mg/L, with flowrates of 2, 5 and 10 mL/min, were examined over a 360 min treatment time. Detailed statistical analyses were applied using 23 factorial design. Nitrate removal was significantly affected by flowrate, concentration and their interactions. The highest nitrate removal capacity of 0.11 mg/g MBC was achieved at a NO3− concentration of 15 mg/L and flowrate of 2 mL/min. The more crystalline structure and rough texture of MBC prepared at 1000 °C resulted in higher NO3− removal compared to MBC prepared at 900 °C. The operating parameters with the highest NO3− removal were used to study the removal capacity of the column. Breakthrough and exhaustion times of the column were 25 and 330 min respectively. Approximately 92% of the column bed was saturated after exhaustion.

This review article addresses wastewater treatment methods in the red meat processing industry. The focus is on conventional chemicals currently in use for abattoir wastewater treatment and energy related aspects. In addition, this article discusses the use of cleaning and sanitizing agents at the meat processing facilities and their effect on decision making in regard to selecting the treatment methods. This study shows that cleaning chemicals are currently used at a concentration of 2% to 3% which will further be diluted with the bulk wastewater. For example, for an abattoir that produces 3500 m3/day wastewater and uses around 200 L (3%) acid and alkaline chemicals, the final concentration of these chemical will be around 0.00017%. For this reason, the effects of these chemicals on the treatment method and the environment are very limited. Chemical treatment is highly efficient in removing soluble and colloidal particles from the red meat processing industry wastewater. Actually, it is shown that, if chemical treatment has been applied, then biological treatment can only be included for the treatment of the solid waste by-product and/or for production of bioenergy. Chemical treatment is recommended in all cases and especially when the wastewater is required to be reused or released to water streams. This study also shows that energy consumption for chemical treatment units is insignificant while efficient compared to other physical or biological units. A combination of a main (ferric chloride) and an aid coagulant has shown to be efficient and cost-effective in treating abattoir wastewater. The cost of using this combination per cubic meter wastewater treated is 0.055 USD/m3 compared to 0.11 USD/m3 for alum and the amount of sludge produced is 77% less than that produced by alum. In addition, the residues of these chemicals in the wastewater and the sludge have a positive or no impact on biological processes. Energy consumption from a small wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) installed to recycle wastewater for a meet facility can be around $500,000.

Abstract The Danube is a significant transboundary river on a global scale, with several tributaries. The effluents from industrial operations and wastewater treatment plants have an impact on the river's aquatic ecosystem. These discharges provide a significant threat to aquatic life by deteriorating the quality of water and sediment. Hence, a total of 16 Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) compounds were analyzed at six locations along the river, covering a period of 12 months. The objective was to explore the temporal and spatial fluctuations of these chemicals in both water and sediment. The study revealed a significant fluctuation in the concentration of PAHs in water throughout the year, with levels ranging from 224.8 ng/L during the summer to 365.8 ng/L during the winter. Similarly, the concentration of PAHs in sediment samples varied from 316.7 ng/g in dry weight during the summer to 422.9 ng/g in dry weight during the winter. According to the Europe Drinking Water Directive, the levels of PAHs exceeded the permitted limit of 100 ng/L, resulting in a 124.8% rise in summer and a 265.8% increase in winter. The results suggest that the potential human-caused sources of PAHs were mostly derived from pyrolytic and pyrogenic processes, with pyrogenic sources being more dominant. Assessment of sediment quality standards (SQGs) showed that the levels of PAHs in sediments were below the Effect Range Low (ERL), except for acenaphthylene (Acy) and fluorene (Fl) concentrations. This suggests that there could be occasional biological consequences. The cumulative Individual Lifetime Cancer Risk (ILCR) exceeds 1/104 for both adults and children in all sites.

Membrane technology has shown a promising role in combating water scarcity, a globally faced challenge. However, the disposal of end-of-life membrane modules is problematic as the current practices include incineration and landfills as their final fate. In addition, the increase in population and lifestyle advancement have significantly enhanced waste generation, thus overwhelming landfills and exacerbating environmental repercussions and resource scarcity. These practices are neither economically nor environmentally sustainable. Recycling membranes and utilizing recycled material for their manufacturing is seen as a potential approach to address the aforementioned challenges. Depending on physiochemical conditions, the end-of-life membrane could be reutilized for similar, upgraded, and downgraded operations, thus extending the membrane lifespan while mitigating the environmental impact that occurred due to their disposal and new membrane preparation for similar purposes. Likewise, using recycled waste such as polystyrene, polyethylene terephthalate, polyvinyl chloride, tire rubber, keratin, and cellulose and their derivates for fabricating the membranes can significantly enhance environmental sustainability. This study advocates for and supports the integration of sustainability concepts into membrane technology by presenting the research carried out in this area and rigorously assessing the achieved progress. The membranes’ recycling and their fabrication utilizing recycled waste materials are of special interest in this work. Furthermore, this study offers guidance for future research endeavors aimed at promoting environmental sustainability.

Vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) has attracted increasing interest for various applications besides seawater desalination. Experimental testing of membrane technologies such as VMD on a pilot or large scale can be laborious and costly. Machine learning techniques can be a valuable tool for predicting membrane performance on such scales. In this work, a novel hybrid model was developed based on incorporating a spotted hyena optimizer (SHO) with support vector machine (SVR) to predict the flux pressure in VMD. The SVR–SHO hybrid model was validated with experimental data and benchmarked against other machine learning tools such as artificial neural networks (ANNs), classical SVR, and multiple linear regression (MLR). The results show that the SVR–SHO predicted flux pressure with high accuracy with a correlation coefficient (R) of 0.94. However, other models showed a lower prediction accuracy than SVR–SHO with R-values ranging from 0.801 to 0.902. Global sensitivity analysis was applied to interpret the obtained result, revealing that feed temperature was the most influential operating parameter on flux, with a relative importance score of 52.71 compared to 17.69, 17.16, and 14.44 for feed flowrate, vacuum pressure intensity, and feed concentration, respectively.

Membrane fouling remains a major obstacle to ultrafiltration. Due to their effectiveness and minimal energy demand, membranes have been extensively employed in water treatment. To improve the antifouling property of the PVDF membrane, a composite ultrafiltration membrane was created employing the in-situ embedment approach throughout the phase inversion process and utilizing a new 2D material, MAX phase Ti3ALC2. The membranes were described using FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy), EDS (energy dispersive spectroscopy), CA (water contact angle), and porosity measurements. Additionally, atomic force microscopy (AFM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) were employed. Standard flux and rejection tests were applied to study the produced membranes’ performance. Adding Ti3ALC2 reduced composite membranes’ surface roughness and hydrophobicity compared to the pristine membrane. Porosity and membrane pore size increased with the addition up to 0.3% w/v, which decreased as the additive percentage increased. The mixed matric membrane with 0.7% w/v of Ti3ALC2 (M7) had the lowest CA. The alteration in the membranes’ properties reflected well on their performance. The membrane with the highest porosity (0.1% w/v of Ti3ALC2, M1) achieved the highest pure water and protein solution fluxes of 182.5 and 148.7. The most hydrophilic membrane (M7) recorded the highest protein rejection and flux recovery ratio of 90.6, which was much higher than that of the pristine membrane, 26.2. MAX phase Ti3ALC2 is a potential material for antifouling membrane modification because of its protein permeability, improved water permeability, and outstanding antifouling characteristics.

This study addressed the fouling issue in membrane distillation (M.D.) technology, a promising method for water purification and wastewater reclamation. To enhance the anti-fouling properties of the M.D. membrane, a tin sulfide (TS) coating onto polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) was proposed and evaluated with air gap membrane distillation (AGMD) using landfill leachate wastewater at high recovery rates (80% and 90%). The presence of TS on the membrane surface was confirmed using various techniques, such as Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS), contact angle measurement, and porosity analysis. The results indicated the TS-PTFE membrane exhibited better anti-fouling properties than the pristine PTFE membrane, and its fouling factors (FFs) were 10.4–13.1% compared to 14.4–16.5% for the PTFE membrane. The fouling was attributed to pore blockage and cake formation of carbonous and nitrogenous compounds. The study also found that physical cleaning with deionized (DI) water effectively restored the water flux, with more than 97% recovered for the TS-PTFE membrane. Additionally, the TS-PTFE membrane showed better water flux and product quality at 55 °C and excellent stability in maintaining the contact angle over time compared to the PTFE membrane.

In this work, MXene as a hydrophilic 2D nanosheet has been suggested to tailor the polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) flat sheet membrane characteristics via bulk modification. The amount of MXene varied in the PPSU casting solution from 0–1.5 wt.%, while a series of characterization tools have been employed to detect the surface characteristics changes. This included atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), contact angle, pore size and porosity, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Results disclosed that the MXene content could significantly influence some of the membranes’ surface characteristics while no effect was seen on others. The optimal MXene content was found to be 0.6 wt.%, as revealed by the experimental work. The roughness parameters of the 0.6 wt.% nanocomposite membrane were notably enhanced, while greater hydrophilicity has been imparted compared to the nascent PPSU membrane. This witnessed enhancement in the surface characteristics of the nanocomposite was indeed reflected in their performance. A triple enhancement in the pure water flux was witnessed without compromising the retention of the membranes against the Cu2+, Cd2+ and Pd2+ feed. In parallel, high, and comparable separation rates (>92%) were achieved by all membranes regardless of the MXene content. In addition, promising antifouling features were observed with the nanocomposite membranes, disclosing that these nanocomposite membranes could offer a promising potential to treat heavy metals-containing wastewater for various applications.

The concerns regarding the reactive nitrogen levels exceeding the planetary limits are well documented in the literature. A large portion of anthropogenic nitrogen ends in wastewater. Nitrogen removal in typical wastewater treatment processes consumes a considerable amount of energy. Nitrogen recovery can help in saving energy and meeting the regulatory discharge limits. This has motivated researchers and industry professionals alike to devise effective nitrogen recovery systems. Membrane technologies form a fundamental part of these systems. This work presents a thorough overview of the subject using scientometric analysis and presents an evaluation of membrane technologies guided by literature findings. The focus of nitrogen recovery research has shifted over time from nutrient concentration to the production of marketable products using improved membrane materials and designs. A practical approach for selecting hybrid systems based on the recovery goals has been proposed. A comparison between membrane technologies in terms of energy requirements, recovery efficiency, and process scale showed that gas permeable membrane (GPM) and its combination with other technologies are the most promising recovery techniques and they merit further industry attention and investment. Recommendations for potential future search trends based on industry and end users’ needs have also been proposed.

This study reports on the impact of elevated recovery (i.e., 80%, 85%, and 90%) on the fouling and performance of air gap membrane distillation (AGMD) with real seawater and landfill leachate wastewater samples using polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) polymer membranes. Increasing the feed temperature from 55 °C to 65 °C improved the water flux of seawater and wastewater and shortened the operating time by 42.8% for all recoveries. The average water flux in the 80%, 85%, and 90% recovery experiments at the 65 °C feed temperature was 32%, 37.32%, and 36.7% higher than the case of 55 °C for the same recoveries. The water flux decline was more severe at a higher temperature and recovery. The highest flux decline was observed with a 90% recovery at 65 °C feed temperature, followed by an 85% recovery at 65 °C. Close examination of the foulants layer revealed that seawater formed a cake fouling layer made predominantly of metal oxides. In contrast, the landfill leachate fouling was a combination of pore blocking and cake formation, consisting mainly of carbonous and nitrogenous compounds. Physical cleaning with deionized (DI) water at 55 °C and 65 °C and chemical cleaning with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) were investigated for their efficiency in removing membrane foulants. Analytical results revealed that seawater fouling caused membrane pore blockage while wastewater fouling formed a porous layer on the membrane surface. The results showed that membrane cleaning with hydrogen peroxide restored >97% of the water flux. Interestingly, the fouling factor in seawater tests was 10%, while it was 16% for the wastewater tests.

Membrane contactor technology affords great opportunities for nitrogen recovery from waste streams. This study presents a performance comparison between lab- and pilot-scale membrane contactors using landfill leachate samples. Polypropylene (PP) and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) fibers in different dimensions were compared in terms of ammonia (NH3) recovery on a lab scale using a synthetic ammonium solution. The effect of pre-treating the leachate with tannin coagulation on nitrogen recovery was also evaluated. An ammonia transfer on the lab and pilot scale was scrutinized using landfill leachate as a feed solution. It was found that PTFE fibers performed better than PP fibers. Among PTFE fibers, the most porous one (denoted as M1) had the highest NH3 flux of 19.2 g/m2.h. Tannin pre-treatment reduced fouling and increased NH3, which in turn improved nitrogen recovery. The mass transfer coefficient of the lab-scale reactor was more than double that of the pilot reactor (1.80 × 10−7 m/s vs. 4.45 × 10−7 m/s). This was likely attributed to the difference in reactor design. An analysis of the membrane surface showed that the landfill leachate caused a combination of inorganic and organic fouling. Cleaning with UV and 0.01 M H2O2 was capable of removing the fouling completely and restoring the membrane characteristics.