8. Photocatalytic Membrane Reactors for Wastewater Treatment: TiO₂-Based Membranes

Access to clean water is a worldwide challenge, which is why it is considered one of the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda adopted by the United Nations. However, despite significant progress already made, many people still lack this service. An efficient alternative to alleviate this problem are photocatalytic membrane reactors (PMRs). These have proven to be a technology with great potential for degrading organic pollutants and water treatment. Therefore, this chapter presents a general description of the basics of PMRs, the use of PMRs in the treatment of contaminated water, different configurations, key operating conditions, and some recent experimental results. Membranes are an interesting element of these reactors, methods for the fabrication of TiO₂-based membranes are reviewed and the advantages and disadvantages of PMRs, such as membrane contamination and strategies to control it, are discussed. Finally, future research perspectives on the development of this promising technology are listed.