• Membrane Journal
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.16-34
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• 2021

Water supplies are decreasing in comparison to increasing clean water demands. Using nanofiltration is one of the most effective and economical methods to meet the need for clean water. Common methods for desalination are reverse osmosis and nanofiltration. However, pristine membranes lack the essential features which are, stability, economic efficiency, antibacterial and antifouling performances. To enhance the properties of the pristine membranes, graphene oxide (GO) is a promising and widely researched material for thin film composites (TFC) membrane due to their characteristics that help improve the hydrophilicity and anti-fouling properties. Modification of the membrane can be done on different layers. The thin film composite membranes are composed of three different layers, the top filtering active thin polyamide (PA) layer, supporting porous layer, and supporting fabric. Forward osmosis (FO) process is yet another energy efficient desalination process, but its efficiency is affected due to biofouling. Incorporation of GO enhance antibacterial properties leading to reduction of biofilm formation on the membrane surface. Pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) is an excellent process to generate clean energy from sea water and the biofouling of membrane is reduced by introduction of GO into the active layer of the TFC membrane. Different modifications on the membranes are being researched, each modification with its own advantages and disadvantages. In this review, modifications of nanofiltration membranes and their composites, characterization, and performances are discussed.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.361-367
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• 2018

In this study, the nanofiltration (NF) composite membranes for the low pressure use were prepared using polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) hollow fiber membrane as a supporter. Poly styrene sulfonic acid (PSSA) and polyethyleneimine (PEI) were coated onto the PVDF membrane by both layer-by-layer and salting-out methods. To characterize the prepared NF membranes in terms of the flux and salt rejection, 100 mg/L feed solutions of NaCl, $MgCl_2$, and $CaSO_4$ were used at the flow rate of 1 L/min and the operating pressure of 2 bar at room temperature. The NF membranes coated with 20,000 ppm PSSA (ionic strength 1.0) solution for 3 minutes and then 30,000 ppm (ionic strength 0.1) solution for 1 minute were observed the best performance. The permeability and salt rejection were 38.5 LMH, 57.1% for NaCl, 37.9 LMH and 90.2% for $MgCl_2$ and 32.4 LMH and 54.6% for $CaSO_4$, respectively.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.83-93
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• 2013

In the present investigation, were synthesized composite membranes prepared by simultaneous casting of two polymer solutions using the technique of phase inversion by immersion / precipitation. The support layer was prepared using polyethersulfone and polysulfone as base polymer and for the top layer was used sulfonated polysulfone (SPSU) with 50% sulfonation degree. The morphology of the resulting membranes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The final results showed that it is possible to prepare composite membranes by simultaneous casting of two polymer solutions with adherence between the two layers. Regarding the permeation tests, the developed membranes presented values of hydraulic permeability within the range of commercial nanofiltration (NF) membranes. Values rejection of 80% ammonium ions can be increased by using a SPSU with a greater degree of sulfonation.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.69-77
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• 2014

To prepare the hollow fiber nanofiltration composite membranes, the poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membrane was hydrophilized with $K_2Cr_2OH$ and $KMnO_4$ aqueous solutions. And then the composite membrane was synthesized on that membrane surfaces using interfacial polymerization with piperazine (PIP) and trimesoyl chloride (TMC). The resulting membranes were characterized in terms of the rejection and flux for NaCl, $CaSO_4$, $MgCl_2$ 100 ppm solution and 300 ppm of NaCl and $CaSO_4$ mixed solution by varying the coating time, drying time, and the concentration of the coating materials. As a result, the higher rejections were shown for $K_2Cr_2OH$ solutionas a hydrophilization material, and the flux was enhanced while the rejection reduced as the hydrophilization time is longer. Also, the rejection increased and the flux reduced as the concentrations of triethyl amine (TEA) and sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) were higher. Typically, the rejection 50% and flux 40 LMH for NaCl 100 ppm solution, and the rejection 55% and flux 48 LMH for $CaSO_4$ 100 ppm solution were obtained for the PVDF hollow fiber composite membrane prepared with the conditions of PIP 2 wt% (Triethyl amine (TEA) 7 wt%, SLS 20 wt% mixed solution against PIP concentration) and TMC 0.1 wt%.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.44-53
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• 2007

The primary objective of this study is to increase the extent of water flux and fouling resistance of nano-filtration or reverse osmosis membranes. This study was performed to investigate the effect of surface characteristics of silane coated membranes on modified fouling index. Commercial polyamide composite RO membrane (RE1812-LP) and NF membrane (ESNA4040-LF) were treated with silane coupling agents in ethanol at five different concentrations. The silane coupling reagent, aminopropylmethoxydiethoxysilane, contains one aminoalkyl and three alkoxy groups. The hydrophilic effect of aminoalkyl group of APMDES on the permeability and fouling resistance of the modified membrane was examined. The surfaces of the modified membranes were characterized by FE-SEM, contact angle analyzer, and zeta potentiometer in order to confirm successful sol-gel methods. The modified NF membranes showed significantly enhanced water flux and fouling resistance without a decrease in salt rejection in divalent ionic feed solution.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.139-145
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• 2022

Development in advanced separation processes leads to the significant advancement in polymeric membrane preparation methodology. Therefore, present research investigated the preparation and characterization of cellulose acetate membrane by phase inversion separation method to determine optimized operating parameters. Prepared CA membrane's performance was been analyzed in terms of % rejection and flux. Investigation was conducted to study effect of different parameters such as polymer concentration, evaporation rate, thickness of film, coagulation bath properties, temperature of polymer solution and of the coagulation bath etc. CA membrane was fabricated by taking polymer concentration 10wt% and 11wt% with zero second evaporation time and varying film thickness over non-woven polyester fabric. Effect of coagulation bath temperature (CBT) and casting solution temperature were also been studied. The experimental results from SEM showed that the surface morphology had been changed with polymer r concentration, coagulation bath and casting solution temperature, etc. Lower polymer concentration leads to lower precipitation time giving porous membrane. The prepared membrane was tested for advanced waste water treatment of relevant effluent stream in pilot plant to study flux and rejection behavior of the membrane.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 1994.10a
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• pp.60-61
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• 1994

복합막은 기존의 비대칭막에 비해서 극히 얇은 표면층을 형성할 수 있다. 이러한 복합막은 배제율도 우수할 뿐만아니라 투과속도 또한 매우 큰 특징을 가지고 있으며, 해수의 담수화를 비롯하여 초순수 제조 등 각종 산업분야에서 많이 응용되고 있다. 우수한 분리막을 제조하기 위해서는 막의 표면층을 보다 더 치밀하고 얇게 형성할 수 있어야 한다. 이렇게 하기 위해서는 지지막 또한 매우 중요한 요인으로 작용한다. 표면층이 치밀하고, 가능한 한 porosity가 큰 지지막을 제조해야한다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 고분자 물질로 Polyethersulfone을 사용하여 지지막을 만들었다. 이 지지막위에 계면중합법으로 NF/RO용 복합막을 제조하였다. 높은 투과 속도 및 염의 배제율이 우수한 복합막을 제조하기 위해서 먼저 Polymer 농도, 첨가제 종류및 농도 등에 의한 각종 제막조건에 따른 지지막의 성능을 조사하였다. 여기에 Monomer 농도를 변화시켜서 계면중합으로 복합막을 제조하여 그 성능 변화를 측정하였다.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.180-186
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• 2018

The nano-composite membranes were prepared onto the polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) hollow fiber membranes through twice dip-coating known layer-by-layer method. For the first coating, poly(vinylsulfonic acid, sodium salt)(PVSA) and Poly(styrene sulfonic acid)(PSSA) were used with varying the concentration and ionic strength (IS) and the poly(ethyleneimine)(PEI) as the second coating material was fixed at 10,000 ppm and IS = 0.3. To characterize the prepared nano-composite membranes, the permeabilities and rejection ratio were measured for each 100 ppm NaCl, $CaSO_4$, $MgCl_2$, and 25 ppm MO aqueous solution. The rejections were increased as the concentrations of coating materials increased. And it was confirmed that the salt rejections for PSSA as the coating material were higher than for PVSA. Typically, the permeability, 1.848 LMH and the rejection for MO 76.3% were obtained at the coating conditions of PSSA 30,000 ppm and I.S = 1.0.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.170-183
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• 2021

Fouling has continued to be a problem that hinders the effectiveness of membrane properties. To solve this problem of reducing fouling effects on membrane surface properties, different and innovative types of membrane patterning has been proposed. This article reviews on the progress of patterned membranes and their separation process concerning the fouling effects of membranes. The types of separation processes that utilize the maximum effectiveness of the patterned membranes include nanofiltration (NF), reverse osmosis (RO), microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF), and pervaporation (PV). Using these separation processes have shown and prove to have a major effect on reducing fouling effects, and in addition, they also add beneficial properties to the patterned membranes. Each patterned membrane and their separation processes gave notable results in threshold towards flux, salt rejections, hydrophilicity and much more, but there are also some unsolved cases to be pointed out. In this review, the effects of patterned membrane for separation processes will be discussed.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.309-321
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• 2015

We report in this study the synthesis of mixed matrix reverse osmosis membranes by interfacial polymerization (IP) of thin film nanocomposite (TFNC) on porous polysulfone supports (PS). This paper investigates the synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) using the sol-gel processing technique and evaluates the performance of mixed matrix membranes reached by these aerogel NPs. Aqueous m-phenyl diamine (MPD) and organic trimesoyl chloride (TMC)-NPs mixture solutions were used in the IP process. The reaction of MPD and TMC at the interface of PS substrates resulted in the formation of the thin film composite (TFC). NPs of ZnO with a size of about 25 nm were used for the fabrication of the TFNC membranes. These membranes were characterized and evaluated in comparison with neat TFC ones. Their performances were evaluated based on the water permeability and salt rejection. Experimental results indicated that the NPs improved membrane performance under optimal concentration of NPs. By changing the content of the filler, better hydrophilicity was obtained; the contact angle was decreased from $74^{\circ}$ to $32^{\circ}$. Also, the permeate water flux was increased from 26 to 49 L/m2.h when the content of NPs is 0.1 (wt.%) with the maintaining of lower salt passage of 1%.