Sustainable Water Treatment with Membranes: A South Africa–Sweden Perspective

This poster explores sustainable water treatment using membrane technologies from a joint South Africa–Sweden perspective. While membrane processes such as MF, UF, NF, RO, and MBRs play a critical role in achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6, their adoption remains uneven due to high capital and operational costs. In South Africa, membrane use is still rare, with only a few MBR installations and desalination facilities operating under budget constraints and pollution pressures. Sweden, by contrast, has established large‑scale UF, NF, RO, and MBR systems and is actively developing innovative concepts such as direct membrane filtration. With a fast‑growing global membrane market driven by the need to remove micro‑ and nano‑pollutants, collaborations such as SASUF provide essential platforms for sharing best practices, adapting technologies to local contexts, and accelerating the transition toward sustainable, resource‑efficient water and wastewater treatment systems in both countries.