Recent Progress, Bottlenecks, Improvement Strategies and the Way Forward of Membrane Distillation Technology for Arsenic Removal from Water: A Review

Arsenic (As) is a common aquatic pollutant that enters the environment from anthropogenic sources and causes serious public health issues. Various conventional techniques have been applied for As removal from drinking water. However, those conventional techniques could not meet the requirement of the As discharge standard of less than 10 mg/L in drinking water set by the World Health Organization (WHO). To deal with this bottleneck, membrane distillation (MD) offers a complete As removal from an aqueous solution due to its higher rejection rate with less energy consumption than thermal techniques that require high thermal energy. This article reviews the recent progress of MD configurations, membrane modules, and membrane materials employed for As removal. This work also uncovers the technological solutions of MD in tackling a variety of bottlenecks in removing As from aqueous solutions. This includes integrating MD with alternative energy sources and/or forward osmosis (FO) to incorporate its hybrid systems with less energy consumption or a high separation rate. Limitations, challenges, and opportunities of MD systems for As removal were highlighted with a technological solution to these bottlenecks. The MD systems can effectively remove As (III) and As (V) with 100% arsenic rejection using hydrophobic ceramic and polymeric membranes. Overall, MD could play a role in helping the water industry meet the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as clean water, affordable energy, and climate change mitigation.