3 -Nanoparticles as a Powerful Tool for Membrane Pore Size Determination and Mercury Removal

This chapter focuses on two laboratory applications of nanoparticles (NPs) plausible for scale-up in water and wastewater treatment industries. The first part of the chapter describes a new, simple, and accurate pore size determination method for ultrafiltration (UF) membranes. The approach includes transfer of the NPs through a membrane and NP concentration measurements before and after filtration. The second part deals with the purification of mercury contaminated aqueous solutions by employing silver NPs synthesized on the surface of fumed silica. The described techniques have the potential to confer worldwide consistency in membrane pore size analyses and produce highly effective nanocomposites able to clean-up mercury contaminated aqueous systems in a cost-effective manner.