{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,18]],"date-time":"2026-01-18T11:49:13Z","timestamp":1768736953149,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":54,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,17]],"date-time":"2022-01-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1642377600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001871","name":"Funda\u00e7\u00e3o para a Ci\u00eancia e Tecnologia","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["PD\/BDE\/114356\/2016, UID\/Multi\/04462\/2013, UIDB\/50006\/2020, UIDB\/00511\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PD\/BDE\/114356\/2016, UID\/Multi\/04462\/2013, UIDB\/50006\/2020, UIDB\/00511\/2020"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001871","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Membranes"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Spent caustic effluents are very challenging due to their very hazardous nature in terms of toxicity as well as their extreme pH (approximately 12\u201314). Spent caustic has presented a challenge for wastewater treatment in refineries, due to its composition rich in mercaptans, sulfides and other aromatic compounds. To address such problems, membrane filtration was studied using real effluents from Sines Refinery, in Portugal. The present study attempts to assess the potential for spent caustic treatment with nanofiltration (NF) polymeric and ceramic membranes, assessing membrane life expectancy. For that, membrane aging studies in static mode were performed with the polymeric membrane before attempting NF treatment (dynamic studies). A ceramic membrane was also tested for the first time with this type of effluents, though only in dynamic mode. Although the polymeric membrane performance was very good and in accordance with previous studies, its lifespan was very reduced after 6 weeks of contact with spent caustic, compromising its use in an industrial unit. Contrarily to expectations, the ceramic membrane tested was not chemically more resistant than the polymeric one upon direct contact with spent caustic (loss of retention capacity in less than 1 h in contact with the spent caustic). The results obtained suggest that a pH of 13.9 is very aggressive, even for ceramic membranes.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/membranes12010098","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,17]],"date-time":"2022-01-17T20:46:03Z","timestamp":1642452363000},"page":"98","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Assessment of the Potential of Using Nanofiltration Polymeric and Ceramic Membranes to Treat Refinery Spent Caustic Effluents"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Ana Isabel","family":"Rita","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Sines Refinery, Petrogal S.A., 7520-952 Sines, Portugal"},{"name":"LEPABE-Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"LAQV\/REQUIMTE, Chemistry Department, Nova School of Science and Technology, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5342-477X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ana Rita","family":"Nabais","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"LAQV\/REQUIMTE, Chemistry Department, Nova School of Science and Technology, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Luisa A.","family":"Neves","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"LAQV\/REQUIMTE, Chemistry Department, Nova School of Science and Technology, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7411-4479","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rosa","family":"Huertas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"LAQV\/REQUIMTE, Chemistry Department, Nova School of Science and Technology, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal"},{"name":"IBET-Instituto de Biologia Experimental e Tecnol\u00f3gica, Apartado 12, 2780-157 Oeiras, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Maria","family":"Santos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Sines Refinery, Petrogal S.A., 7520-952 Sines, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1893-5467","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Luis M.","family":"Madeira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"LEPABE-Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9162-9263","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sandra","family":"Sanches","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"IBET-Instituto de Biologia Experimental e Tecnol\u00f3gica, Apartado 12, 2780-157 Oeiras, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Rita, A., Rodrigues, C., Santos, M., Sanches, S., and Madeira, L. (2020). Comparison of different strategies to treat challenging refinery spent caustic effluents. Sep. Purif. Technol., 253.","DOI":"10.1016\/j.seppur.2020.117482"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2604","DOI":"10.1002\/jssc.201501355","article-title":"Application of dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction and gas chromatography with mass spectrometry for the determination of oxygenated volatile organic compounds in effluents from the production of petroleum bitumen","volume":"39","author":"Boczkaj","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Sep. Sci."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"143","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chroma.2019.01.045","article-title":"Methods of assaying volatile oxygenated organic compounds in effluent samples by gas chromatography\u2014A review","volume":"1592","author":"Przyjazny","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Chromatogr. A"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3946","DOI":"10.1002\/jssc.201600608","article-title":"New procedure for the control of the treatment of industrial effluents to remove volatile organosulfur compounds","volume":"39","author":"Boczkaj","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Sep. Sci."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1301","DOI":"10.1002\/jssc.201601237","article-title":"New procedure for the examination of the degradation of volatile organonitrogen compounds during the treatment of industrial effluents","volume":"40","author":"Boczkaj","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Sep. Sci."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"26","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chroma.2017.08.045","article-title":"Method for the determination of carboxylic acids in industrial effluents using dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction with injection port derivatization gas chromatography\u2013mass spectrometry","volume":"1517","author":"Fernandes","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Chromatogr. A"},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"10","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chroma.2018.04.054","article-title":"Sample preparation procedure using extraction and derivatization of carboxylic acids from aqueous samples by means of deep eutectic solvents for gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric analysis","volume":"1555","author":"Fernandes","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Chromatogr. A"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2360","DOI":"10.1002\/jssc.201701464","article-title":"Method for the simultaneous determination of monoaromatic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in industrial effluents using dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry","volume":"41","author":"Fernandes","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Sep. Sci."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"295","DOI":"10.1002\/ep.10261","article-title":"Economic analysis for wet oxidation process for the treatment of mixed refinery spent caustic","volume":"27","author":"Alnaizy","year":"2008","journal-title":"Environ. Prog."},{"key":"ref_10","unstructured":"Berne, F., and Cordonnier, J. (1995). Industrial Water Treatment\u2014Refining, Petrochemical and Gas Processing Techniques, Gulf Publishing Company."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"477","DOI":"10.1016\/j.memsci.2016.07.061","article-title":"FTIR mapping as a simple and powerful approach to study membrane coating and fouling","volume":"520","author":"Benavente","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Membr. Sci."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"178","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ces.2015.04.023","article-title":"Ageing of polyethersulfone ultrafiltration membranes under long-term exposures to alkaline and acidic cleaning solutions","volume":"134","author":"Palacio","year":"2015","journal-title":"Chem. Eng. Sci."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"689","DOI":"10.1016\/j.proeng.2012.08.531","article-title":"Cleaning and Ageing of Ultrafiltration Membranes","volume":"44","author":"Alvarez","year":"2012","journal-title":"Procedia Eng."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"44","DOI":"10.5004\/dwt.2017.20735","article-title":"Structure and properties of membrane at different ages in drinking water treatment","volume":"74","author":"Cui","year":"2017","journal-title":"Desalination Water Treat."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"220","DOI":"10.1016\/j.memsci.2011.03.044","article-title":"Permeability and chemical analysis of aromatic polyamide based membranes exposed to sodium hypochlorite","volume":"375","author":"Ettori","year":"2011","journal-title":"J. Membr. Sci."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"24","DOI":"10.1016\/j.desal.2012.11.004","article-title":"Pilot scale study of chlorination-induced transport property changes of a seawater reverse osmosis membrane","volume":"311","author":"Ettori","year":"2013","journal-title":"Desalination"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"899","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jeurceramsoc.2016.10.007","article-title":"Morphological, chemical surface and filtration characterization of a new silicon carbide membrane","volume":"37","author":"Fraga","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Eur. Ceram. Soc."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"789","DOI":"10.1016\/j.proeng.2012.08.571","article-title":"Accelerated Ageing of Crosslinked Polyamide Membranes","volume":"44","author":"Ettori","year":"2012","journal-title":"Procedia Eng."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"472","DOI":"10.1016\/j.proeng.2012.08.454","article-title":"Hypochlorite Cleaning of Polyethersulfone\/Polyvinylpyrrolidone Ultrafiltration Membranes: Impact on Performances","volume":"44","author":"Pellegrin","year":"2012","journal-title":"Procedia Eng."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"287","DOI":"10.1016\/j.memsci.2013.07.026","article-title":"Multi-scale analysis of hypochlorite induced PES\/PVP ultrafiltration membranes degradation","volume":"447","author":"Pellegrin","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Membr. Sci."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"175","DOI":"10.1016\/j.memsci.2014.09.028","article-title":"Filtration performance and pore size distribution of hypochlorite aged PES\/PVP ultrafiltration membranes","volume":"474","author":"Pellegrin","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Membr. Sci."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"316","DOI":"10.1016\/j.watres.2015.08.028","article-title":"Effects of sodium hypochlorite exposure mode on PES\/PVP ultrafiltration membrane degradation","volume":"85","author":"Causserand","year":"2015","journal-title":"Water Res."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Alipour, Z., and Azari, A. (2020). COD removal from industrial spent caustic wastewater: A review. J. Environ. Chem. Eng., 8.","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jece.2020.103678"},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"762","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jenvman.2016.07.027","article-title":"Oil refinery hazardous effluents minimization by membrane filtration: An on-site pilot plant study","volume":"181","author":"Santos","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Environ. Manag."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"44","DOI":"10.1016\/j.seppur.2012.04.003","article-title":"Nanofiltration of hormones and pesticides in different real drinking water sources","volume":"94","author":"Sanches","year":"2012","journal-title":"Sep. Purif. Technol."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"141","DOI":"10.5004\/dwt.2011.2087","article-title":"Removal of pesticides and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from different drinking water sources by nanofiltration","volume":"27","author":"Sanches","year":"2011","journal-title":"Desalination Water Treat."},{"key":"ref_27","first-page":"413","article-title":"Reverse osmosis of refinery oily wastewater effluents","volume":"7","author":"Salahi","year":"2010","journal-title":"J. Environ. Heal. Sci. Eng."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"222","DOI":"10.1016\/j.desal.2010.07.055","article-title":"Ceramic membrane performance in microfiltration of oily wastewater","volume":"265","author":"Abadi","year":"2011","journal-title":"Desalination"},{"key":"ref_29","first-page":"251","article-title":"Refinery wastewater biological treatment: A short review","volume":"71","author":"Ishak","year":"2012","journal-title":"J. Sci. Ind. Res."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7692","DOI":"10.1016\/j.biortech.2011.05.065","article-title":"The effect of hydraulic retention time on the performance and fouling characteristics of membrane sequencing batch reactors used for the treatment of synthetic petroleum refinery wastewater","volume":"102","author":"Shariati","year":"2011","journal-title":"Bioresour. Technol."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"93","DOI":"10.1016\/S1383-5866(03)00067-4","article-title":"Treatment of oily wastewater produced from refinery processes using flocculation and ceramic membrane filtration","volume":"32","author":"Zhong","year":"2003","journal-title":"Sep. Purif. Technol."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e101","DOI":"10.1038\/am.2014.23","article-title":"Recent progress in developing advanced membranes for emulsified oil\/water separation","volume":"6","author":"Zhu","year":"2014","journal-title":"NPG Asia Mater."},{"key":"ref_33","unstructured":"Li, J. (2016). Chemical Stability of Ceramic Membrane, Unpublished manuscript."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"106","DOI":"10.1016\/j.seppur.2011.09.022","article-title":"Effect of ageing on the microfiltration performance of ceramic membranes","volume":"83","author":"Chiu","year":"2011","journal-title":"Sep. Purif. Technol."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"734","DOI":"10.1016\/j.memsci.2018.06.047","article-title":"Effects of organic fouling and cleaning on the retention of pharmaceutically active compounds by ceramic nanofiltration membranes","volume":"563","author":"Zhao","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Membr. Sci."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"L\u00f3pez, J., Reig, M., Vecino, X., Gibert, O., and Cortina, J.L. (2019). Comparison of acid-resistant ceramic and polymeric nanofiltration membranes for acid mine waters treatment. Chem. Eng. J., 382.","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cej.2019.122786"},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"81","DOI":"10.1016\/j.memsci.2011.07.018","article-title":"Sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) based composite membranes for nanofiltration of acidic and alkaline media","volume":"381","author":"Dalwani","year":"2011","journal-title":"J. Membr. Sci."},{"key":"ref_38","unstructured":"(2012). Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater."},{"key":"ref_39","first-page":"36","article-title":"Image Processing with ImageJ","volume":"11","author":"Abramoff","year":"2004","journal-title":"Biophotonics Int."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"85","DOI":"10.1016\/S0376-7388(00)00657-8","article-title":"Membrane characterization using microscopic image analysis","volume":"186","author":"Masselin","year":"2001","journal-title":"J. Memb. Sci."},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"51","DOI":"10.1016\/j.seppur.2013.09.009","article-title":"Prediction of polar oil and grease contamination levels in refinery wastewater through multivariate statistical modeling","volume":"119","author":"Santos","year":"2013","journal-title":"Sep. Purif. Technol."},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Rita, A., Monteiro, A., Albuquerque, R., Santos, M., Ribeiro, J., Madeira, L., and Sanches, S. (2021). Unravelling the relation between processed crude oils and the composition of spent caustic effluents as well as the respective economic impact. J. Hazard. Mater., 421.","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jhazmat.2021.126629"},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sousa, M.R.S., Lora-Garc\u00eda, J., L\u00f3pez-P\u00e9rez, M.-F., and Heran, M. (2020). Identification of Foulants on Polyethersulfone Membranes Used to Remove Colloids and Dissolved Matter from Paper Mill Treated Effluent. Water, 12.","DOI":"10.3390\/w12020365"},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"329","DOI":"10.1038\/162329b0","article-title":"Feret\u2019s Statistical Diameter as a Measure of Particle Size","volume":"162","author":"Walton","year":"1948","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Pretsch, E., Clerc, T., Seibl, J., and Simon, W. (1989). Tables of Spectral Data for Structure Determination of Organic Compounds, Springer-Verlag. [2nd ed.].","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-662-10207-7"},{"key":"ref_46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kazemnejadi, M., Shakeri, A., Nikookar, M., Shademani, R., and Mohammadi, M. (2018). Selective and metal-free epoxidation of terminal alkenes by heterogeneous polydioxirane in mild conditions. R. Soc. Open Sci., 5.","DOI":"10.1098\/rsos.171541"},{"key":"ref_47","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"240","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jcis.2013.02.019","article-title":"Tortuously structured polyvinyl chloride\/polyurethane fibrous membranes for high-efficiency fine particulate filtration","volume":"398","author":"Wang","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Colloid Interface Sci."},{"key":"ref_48","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"94429","DOI":"10.1039\/C6RA15983D","article-title":"Antibacterial and hemostatic composite gauze of N,O-carboxymethyl chitosan\/oxidized regenerated cellulose","volume":"6","author":"Cheng","year":"2016","journal-title":"RSC Adv."},{"key":"ref_49","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Khan, J.A., Sayed, M., Shah, N.S., Khan, S., Zhang, Y., Boczkaj, G., Khan, H.M., and Dionysiou, D.D. (2019). Synthesis of eosin modified TiO2 film with co-exposed {001} and {101} facets for photocatalytic degradation of para-aminobenzoic acid and solar H2 production. Appl. Catal. B Environ., 265.","DOI":"10.1016\/j.apcatb.2019.118557"},{"key":"ref_50","unstructured":"Sabu Thomas, M.G.T., Rane, A.V., Kanny, K., and Abitha, V.K. (2018). Degradability of Polymers. Recycle Polyurethane Foam, William Andrew Publishing."},{"key":"ref_51","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Radelyuk, I., Tussupova, K., Zhapargazinova, K., Yelubay, M., and Persson, M. (2019). Pitfalls of Wastewater Treatment in Oil Refinery Enterprises in Kazakhstan\u2014A System Approach. Sustainability, 11.","DOI":"10.3390\/su11061618"},{"key":"ref_52","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Nyquist, R.A. (2001). Azines, Isocyanates, Isothiocyanates, and Carbodiimides. Interpreting Infrared, Raman, and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectra, Academic Press.","DOI":"10.1016\/B978-012523475-7\/50183-2"},{"key":"ref_53","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Li, C., Sun, W., Lu, Z., Ao, X., and Li, S. (2020). Ceramic nanocomposite membranes and membrane fouling: A review. Water Res., 175.","DOI":"10.1016\/j.watres.2020.115674"},{"key":"ref_54","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"258","DOI":"10.1016\/j.seppur.2014.08.039","article-title":"Nanofiltration of trace organic chemicals: A comparison between ceramic and polymeric membranes","volume":"136","author":"Fujioka","year":"2014","journal-title":"Sep. Purif. Technol."}],"container-title":["Membranes"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2077-0375\/12\/1\/98\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T22:02:48Z","timestamp":1760133768000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2077-0375\/12\/1\/98"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,17]]},"references-count":54,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,1]]}},"alternative-id":["membranes12010098"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/membranes12010098","relation":{},"ISSN":["2077-0375"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2077-0375","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,17]]}}}