NANOFUN is a three year bilateral project (2023-2025) involving the Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry of the University of Pisa (Italy) and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research of Pretoria (South Africa).
Water scarcity is an increasing threat due to climate change, waste accumulation, and growing demand for water supply, which invests South Africa and Italy, as well as the entire globe, and poses the problem of water purification. Water may contain pollutants such as heavy metal ions, highly concentrated salts, microbes, oils, persistent and emerging organic pollutants (POPs and ECs), microplastics, etc. This constitutes a significant hazard to the health of humans and ecosystems.
Absorption technologies are considered promising for water purification since they are less expensive and more efficient. The objective of the project NANOFUN is producing sustainable and efficient nanocellulose-based membranes for water purification, with enhanced absorption properties by surface chemical functionalization.
Project’s Work Packages
WP1: Preparation and characterization of functionalized nanocellulose membranes (Months 1-18). The aim of WP1 will be to devise the best strategies for the preparation of purification membranes.
WP2: Testing of nanocellulose membranes for removal of contaminants (Months 9-24). This WP will study the interaction of the membranes with pollutants.
WP3: Development of prototype working in crossflow filtration mode (Months 25-36).
This project is supported in part by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Grant Number PGR01179, CUP I53C22003350001 and by the National Research Foundation (NRF), South Africa, Grant Number 150552.
