• Membrane Journal
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.351-364
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• 2016

In recent decades, many researchers have tried to improve desalination performances of polyamide (PA) thin-film composite membranes (TFCs) by incorporating nanomaterials into a selective PA layer. This review focuses on PA-based nanocomposite membranes with high performances for energy-effective desalination in reverse osmosis. Carbon based nanomaterial (e.g., graphene oxide (GO), carbon nanotubes (CNT)) and/or other nanoparticles (e.g., zeolite, silica and etc.,) were applied to overcome the trade-off correlation between water permeability and salt rejection of current polymeric desalination membranes. Here, this brief review will discuss current studies of PA-based nanocomposite membranes with enhanced separation characteristics and provide the future research direction to achieve further improved desalination performances.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.111-123
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• 2020

Growing industrialization and climate change lead to the huge demand for clean drinking water. Desalination of sea water by membrane separation process is one of the alternative and economically viable methods to fulfil the demand for water. In the membrane separation process, the presence of 2D materials enhances the performance of membrane by facilitating the water permeation, salt rejection, flux rate, and selectivity compared to the traditional reverse osmosis thin-film-composite membranes. In this review, composite membranes with different kinds of 2D materials are discussed on the basis of materials synthesis, characterization and desalination process.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.47 no.7
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• pp.859-866
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• 2015

The aim of this work is to investigate the transport mechanism of radioactive nuclides through the reverse osmosis (RO) membrane and to estimate its effectiveness for nuclide separation from radioactive liquid waste. An analytical model is developed to simulate the RO separation, and a series of experiments are set up to confirm its estimated separation behavior. The model is based on the extended Nernst-Plank equation, which handles the convective flux, diffusive flux, and electromigration flux under electroneutrality and zero electric current conditions. The distribution coefficient which arises due to ion interactions with the membrane material and the electric potential jump at the membrane interface are included as boundary conditions in solving the equation. A high Peclet approximation is adopted to simplify the calculation, but the effect of concentration polarization is included for a more accurate prediction of separation. Cobalt and cesium are specifically selected for the experiments in order to check the separation mechanism from liquid waste composed of various radioactive nuclides and nonradioactive substances, and the results are compared with the estimated cobalt and cesium rejections of the RO membrane using the model. Experimental and calculated results are shown to be in excellent agreement. The proposed model will be very useful for the prediction of separation behavior of various radioactive nuclides by the RO membrane.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.317-322
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• 2015

Salinity gradient power is a system which sustainably generates electricity for 24 hrs, if the system is constructed at a certain place where both seawater and river water are consistently pumped. Since power is critically determined by the water flux and the salt rejection, a membrane of water-semipermeable aquaporin protein in cell membranes was studied for pressure-retarded osmosis. NaCl was used as a salt, and $NaNO_3$ was used as a candidate to check the ion selectivity. The water flux of biomimetic aquaporin membranes was negligible at a concentration below 2M. Also, there is no remarkable dependence of water flux and ion selectivity on concentrations higher than 3M. Therefore, the biomimetic aquaporin membrane could not be applied into pressure-retarded osmosis; however, if a membrane could overcome the current limitations, the properties shown by natural cells could be accomplished.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 2002.07a
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• pp.1-12
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• 2002

Desalination by reverse osmosis (RO), which first entered commercial use in the 1970s, was initially mainly used for treating brackish water. Technological progress led to the development of an RO membrane enabling single-pass seawater desalination. Toyobo succeeded in developing a single-pass seawater desalination RO module composed of hollow fiber type membranes made of cellulose triacetate in 1978, and then in 1979 began production of the first commercially available double-element module. This double-element module has many advantages suitable for seawater desalination. It has high chlorine tolerance and high salt rejection, derived from the properties of the membrane material, and it is highly resistant to fouling and scaling matters due to the unique flow pattern and fiber bundle configuration. These advantages help to explain why the Toyobo double-element module has been used so successfully at the many seawater desalination plants around the world. Since the 1980s, large plants capable of desalinating several tens of thousands of cubic meters a day have sprung up around the Mediterranean and In the Middle East. The Jeddah RO Phase I Plant, which has a capacity of 56, 800m$^3$/day, went into operation in 1989. In 1994, the same sized Phase II Plant came on stream, giving the plant a huge total capacity of 113, 600m$^3$/day. The plant constructor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI), and the RO membrane manufacturer Toyobo Co., Ltd. In 1998, the world's largest RO seawater desalination plant in operation, which has a capacity of 128, 000m$^3$/day and is run by Saudi Arabia's Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), went into operation at Yanbu. RO seawater desalination technology has thus already reached the stage of full-scale commercial use. In order to encourage its wider use, however, RO desalination needs to be made more economical by lowering construction and water treatment costs. Toyobo has therefore developed a new economical RO desalination system by a recovery ratio of 60% using a high-pressure module with a high product flow rate. In 2000, Toyobo high recovery membrane module was selected for the largest seawater desalination plant in Japan, which has a capacity of 50, 000m$^3$/day.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.232-239
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• 2017

In this study, the regeneration investigation for waste reverse osmosis membrane filters which were discarded after use for the household water purifiers has been carried out. Sodium hydroxide, sodium bisulfate, and ethylenediamine tetra acetic acid(EDTA). as the chemical cleaning agents were used. And they were in-situ cleaned with the micro-bubble generator as well. The best result was obtained when both 0.1% EDTA and micro-bubbles were used for 30 min cleaning. Thus, when the performance of the brand new RO membrane and restorated RO membrane were compared, the flux, 19.9%, the recovery ratio 45% were enhanced while the salt rejection was reduced for NaCl 100 mg/L solution, in other words, it has been recovered to the original brand new RO membrane filter. Also the removal of pollutants on membrane surface was confirmed in a naked eye through the scanning electron microscopy. Finally, this research has provided the possibility of the re-use of the waste RO membrane filters of household water purifier which were reclaimed or incinerated after use.

• 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.

• Transactions of the KSME C: Technology and Education
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.59-68
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• 2013

In the present study, sea water reverse osmosis desalination system was composed with an ultra-filtration membrane as a pre-treatment. Sea water was induced into the pre-treatment composed with an auto-screen filter and an ultra-filtration membrane. It was proved that the permeate of the pre-treatment was adequate for reverse osmosis desalination system by measuring the $SDI_{15}$ and the turbidity. Feed salinities was changed by mixing the brine and the permeate. Inlet salinities effected the performances of sea water reverse osmosis desalination system in a large amount such as the salt rejection, the recovery ratio, the pressure, the product salinity. Energy consumptions per the ton of the product were almost linearly increased with the inlet salinities.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.127-139
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• 2015

Rejection of ionic solutes by reverse osmosis (RO) and nanofiltration (NF) membranes is controlled mainly by electrochemical interaction as well as pore size, but it is very difficult to directly evaluate such electrochemical interaction. In this work, we used an inverse HPLC method to investigate the interaction between ionic solutes and poly (m- phenylenediaminetrimesoyl) (PPT), a polymer similar to the skin layer of polyamide RO and NF membranes. Silica gel particles coated with PPT were used as the stationary phase, and aqueous solutions of the ionic solutes were used as the mobile phase. Chromatographs obtained for the ionic solutes showed features typical of exclusion chromatographs: the ionic solutes were eluted faster than water (mobile phase), and the exclusion intensity of the ionic solute decreased with increasing solute concentration, asymptotically approaching a minimum value. The charge density of PPT was estimated to be ca. 0.007 mol/L. On the basis of minimum exclusion intensity, the exclusion distances between a salt and neutralized PPT was examined, and the following average values were obtained: 0.49 nm for 1:1 salts, 0.57 nm for 2:1 salts, 0.60 nm for 1:2 salts, and 0.66 nm for 2:2 salts. However, $NaAsO_2$ and $H_3BO_3$, which are dissolved at neutral pH in their undissociated forms, were not excluded.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.169-179
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• 2012

One of the major limitations in the use of commercial aromatic polyamide thin film composite (TFC) reverse osmosis (RO) membranes is to maintain high performance over a long period of operation, due to the sensitivity of polyamide (PA) skin layer to oxidizing agents, such as chlorine, even at very low concentrations in feed water. This article reports surface modification of a commercial TFC RO membrane (BW30-Dow Filmtec) by covering it with a thin film of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) crosslinked with glutaraldehyde (GA) to improve its resistance to chlorine. Crosslinking reaction was carried out at 25 and $40^{\circ}C$ by using PVA 1.0 wt.% solutions at different GA/PVA mass ratio, namely 0.0022, 0.0043 and 0.013. Water swelling measurements indicated a maximum crosslinking density for PVA films prepared at $40^{\circ}C$ and GA/PVA 0.0043. ATR-FTIR and TGA analysis confirmed the reaction between GA and PVA. SEM images of the original and modified membranes were used to evaluate the surface coating. Chlorine resistance of original and modified membranes was evaluated by exposing it to an oxidant solution (NaClO 300 mg/L, NaCl 2,000 mg/L, pH 9.5) and measuring water permeability and salt rejection during more than 100 h period. The surface modification effectively was demonstrated by increasing the chlorine resistance of PA commercial membrane from 1,000 ppm.h to more than 15.000 ppm.h.