Synthesis of thin-film composite forward osmosis membranes for removing organic micro-pollutants from aqueous solutions

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 1160-1166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alireza Saeedi-Jurkuyeh ◽  
Ahmad Jonidi Jafari

Abstract In this study, a thin-film composite (TFC) forward osmosis membrane was synthesized and characterized with various concentrations (15%, 16%, 17% and 18%) of polysulfone for the removal of two organic micro-pollutants, namely phenol and benzene from the aqueous solutions. Synthesis of a thin-film composite membrane with a support layer carried out by dissolving an amount of polysulfone polymer and polyvinyl pyrrolidone in N-methyl,2-pyrrolidone via phase inversion process and a thin-film layer of the polyamide M-phenylenediamine (MPD) and 1,3,5-benzene trichloride by interfacial polymerization reaction for the fabrication of the TFC were examined. Water flux and reverse salt flux decreased with increasing the concentration of polysulfone polymer. The composite membranes with polysulfone at 16% and 17% had even higher efficiencies. Also, by increasing the concentration of the draw solution, further phenol and benzene could be removed. The highest rejection rates of phenol (polar) and benzene (nonpolar) were found to be 79% and 90%, respectively. The results showed the capability of the thin-film composite forward osmosis (TFC-FO) membranes for removing organic micro-pollutants from the aqueous solutions under different operating conditions, with the efficiency of removing nonpolar compounds being higher.

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 544
Author(s):  
Manuel Reyes De Guzman ◽  
Micah Belle Marie Yap Ang ◽  
Shu-Hsien Huang ◽  
Qing-Yi Huang ◽  
Yu-Hsuan Chiao ◽  
...  

Thin-film composite (TFC) polyamide membranes formed through interfacial polymerization can function more efficiently by tuning the chemical structure of participating monomers. Accordingly, three kinds of diamine monomers were considered to take part in interfacial polymerization. Each diamine was reacted with trimesoyl chloride (TMC) to manufacture TFC polyamide nanofiltration (NF)-like forward osmosis (FO) membranes. The diamines differed in chemical structure; the functional group present between the terminal amines was classified as follows: aliphatic group of 1,3-diaminopropane (DAPE); cyclohexane in 1,3-cyclohexanediamine (CHDA); and aromatic or benzene ring in m-phenylenediamine (MPD). For FO tests, deionized water and 1 M aqueous sodium sulfate solution were used as feed and draw solution, respectively. Interfacial polymerization conditions were also varied: concentrations of water and oil phases, time of contact between the water-phase solution and the membrane substrate, and polymerization reaction time. The resultant membranes were characterized using attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and surface contact angle measurement to identify the chemical structure, morphology, roughness, and hydrophilicity of the polyamide layer, respectively. The results of FO experiments revealed that among the three diamine monomers, CHDA turned out to be the most effective, as it led to the production of TFC NF-like FO membrane with optimal performance. Then, the following optimum conditions were established for the CHDA-based membrane: contact between 2.5 wt.% aqueous CHDA solution and polysulfone (PSf) substrate for 2 min, and polymerization reaction between 1 wt.% TMC solution and 2.5 wt.% CHDA solution for 30 s. The composite CHDA-TMC/PSf membrane delivered a water flux (Jw) of 18.24 ± 1.33 LMH and a reverse salt flux (Js) of 5.75 ± 1.12 gMH; therefore, Js/Jw was evaluated to be 0.32 ± 0.07 (g/L).


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ke Zheng ◽  
Shaoqi Zhou

Abstract In this study, cyanoethyl cellulose (CEC) was used as a membrane material, and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) was used as pore-forming agent to prepare the substrates for the thin-film composite (TFC) forward osmosis (FO) membrane for the first time. The experimental results demonstrate that the properties of the substrates were significantly improved after PVP was added. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) images show that a two-sublayer structure, a fringe-like top sublayer and macrovoids with sponge-like wall bottom sublayer, were formed after the addition of PVP. These improvements contributed to improved membrane performance during FO tests. Meanwhile, after adding PVP, the TFC membranes exhibited good water flux, and excellent specific reverse salt flux. For instance, the TFC-M2 exhibited 9.10/20.67 LMH water flux, 1.35/2.24 gMH reverse salt flux, and 0.15/0.11 g/L specific reverse salt flux in FO/pressure-retarded osmosis mode while using 1 M NaCl as the draw solution and deionized (DI) water as the feed solution.


Membranes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 237
Author(s):  
Xiao-Xue Ke ◽  
Ting-Yu Wang ◽  
Xiao-Qiong Wu ◽  
Jiang-Ping Chen ◽  
Quan-Bao Zhao ◽  
...  

Electrospun nanofiber with interconnected porous structure has been studied as a promising support layer of polyamide (PA) thin-film composite (TFC) forward osmosis (FO) membrane. However, its rough surface with irregular pores is prone to the formation of a defective PA active layer after interfacial polymerization, which shows high reverse salt leakage in FO desalination. Heat-curing is beneficial for crosslinking and stabilization of the PA layer. In this work, a nanofiber-supported PA TFC membrane was conceived to be cured on a hot water surface with preserved phase interface for potential “defect repair”, which could be realized by supplementary interfacial polymerization of residual monomers during heat-curing. The resultant hot-water-curing FO membrane with a more uniform superhydrophilic and highly crosslinked PA layer exhibited much lower reverse salt flux (FO: 0.3 gMH, PRO: 0.8 gMH) than that of oven-curing FO membrane (FO: 2.3 gMH, PRO: 2.2 gMH) and achieved ∼4 times higher separation efficiency. It showed superior stability owing to mitigated reverse salt leakage and osmotic pressure loss, with its water flux decline lower than a quarter that of the oven-curing membrane. This study could provide new insight into the fine-tuning of nanofiber-supported TFC FO membrane for high-quality desalination via a proper selection of heat-curing methods.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-57
Author(s):  
Mustafa Al-Furaiji ◽  
Mohammed Kadhom ◽  
Khairi Kalash ◽  
Basma Waisi ◽  
Noor Albayati

Abstract. The forward osmosis (FO) process has been considered to be a viable option for water desalination in comparison to the traditional processes like reverse osmosis, regarding energy consumption and economical operation. In this work, a polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofiber support layer was prepared using the electrospinning process as a modern method. Then, an interfacial polymerization reaction between m-phenylenediamine (MPD) and trimesoyl chloride (TMC) was carried out to generate a polyamide selective thin-film composite (TFC) membrane on the support layer. The TFC membrane was tested in FO mode (feed solution facing the active layer) using the standard methodology and compared to a commercially available cellulose triacetate membrane (CTA). The synthesized membrane showed a high performance in terms of water flux (16 Lm −2 h−1) but traded the salt rejection (4 gm−2 h−1) compared with the commercial CTA membrane (water flux = 13 Lm−2 h−1 and salt rejection = 3 gm−2 h−1) at no applied pressure and room temperature. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), contact angle, mechanical properties, porosity, and performance characterizations were conducted to examine the membrane.


Membranes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 6
Author(s):  
Tarek S. Jamil ◽  
Rabab A. Nasr ◽  
Hussien A. Abbas ◽  
Tamer I. M. Ragab ◽  
Sinethemba Xabela ◽  
...  

Novel low-cost cellulose triacetate-based membranes extracted from palm fronds have been fabricated through the phase–inversion procedure. The cellulose tri-acetate (CTA) membrane was modified by incorporation of graphene oxide (GO) prepared from palm fronds according to the modified Hummer method as well as the preparation of polyamide thin film composite CTA membranes to improve forward osmosis performance for seawater desalination. The surface characteristics and morphology of the prepared CTA, GO, and the fabricated membranes were investigated. The modified TFC prepared membrane had superior mechanical characteristics as well as permeation of water. The performance of the prepared membranes was tested using synthetic 2 M Sodium chloride (NaCl) feed solution. The water flux (Jw) of the thin-film composite (TFC) (CTA/0.3% GO) was 35 L/m2h, which is much higher than those of pure CTA and CTA/0.3% GO. Meanwhile, the salt reverse flux TFC (CTA/0.3% GO) was 1.1 g/m2h), which is much lower than those of pure CTA and CTA/0.3%. GO (Specific salt flux of TFC (CTA/0.3% GO) substrate membrane was 0.03 g/L indicating good water permeation and low reverse salt flux of the TFC membrane compared to CTA. A real saline water sample collected from Hurgada, Egypt, with totally dissolved solids of 42,643 mg/L with NaCl as the draw solution (DS) at 25 °C and flow rate 1.55 L/min, was used to demonstrate the high performance of the prepared TFC membrane. The chemical analysis of desalted permeated water sample revealed the high performance of the prepared TFC membrane. Consequently, the prepared low-cost forward osmosis (FO) thin-film composite CTA membranes can be introduced in the desalination industry to overcome the high cost of reverse osmosis membrane usage in water desalination.


2021 ◽  
Vol 626 ◽  
pp. 119185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralph Rolly Gonzales ◽  
Lei Zhang ◽  
Yuji Sasaki ◽  
Wataru Kushida ◽  
Hideto Matsuyama ◽  
...  

Polymers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 2860
Author(s):  
Bárbara E. Rodríguez ◽  
María Magdalena Armendariz-Ontiveros ◽  
Rodrigo Quezada ◽  
Esther A. Huitrón-Segovia ◽  
Humberto Estay ◽  
...  

The influence of the lateral size and the content of graphene oxide (GO) flakes in specific oxygenate functional groups on the anti-biofouling properties and performance of thin-film composite membrane (TFC) was studied. Three different multidimensional GO samples were prepared with small (500–1200 nm), medium (1200–2300 nm), and large (2300–3600 nm) size distribution, and with different degrees of oxidation (GO3 > GO2 > GO1), varying the concentration of the hydrogen peroxide amount during GO synthesis. GO1 sheets’ length have a heterogeneous size distribution containing all size groups, whilst GO2 is contained in a medium-size group, and GO3 is totally contained within a small-size group. Moreover, GO oxygenate groups were controlled. GO2 and GO3 have hydroxyl and epoxy groups at the basal plane of their sheets. Meanwhile, GO1 presented only hydroxyl groups. GO sheets were incorporated into the polyamide (PA) layer of the TFC membrane during the interfacial polymerization reaction. The incorporation of GO1 produced a modified membrane with excellent bactericidal properties and anti-adhesion capacity, as well as superior desalination performance with high water flow (133% as compared with the unmodified membrane). For GO2 and GO3, despite the significant anti-biofouling effect, a detrimental impact on desalination performance was observed. The high content of large sheets in GO2 and small sheet stacking in GO3 produced an unfavorable impact on the water flow. Therefore, the synergistic effect due to the presence of large- and small-sized GO sheets and high content of OH-functional groups (GO1) made it possible to balance the performance of the membrane.


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