Separation performances of a nanofiltration membrane for chlorides, nitrates and sulfates aqueous solutions

  • Wang, Da-Xin (Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University) ;
  • Su, Meng (Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University) ;
  • Wang, Xiao-Lin (Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University)
  • Published : 2004.05.01

Abstract

Permeation experiments of a commercial nanofiltration membrane (nominated as ESNA 1) were carried out with aqueous solutions of various single salts, that is, five chlorides (NH$_4$Cl, NaCl, KCl, MgCl$_2$ and $CaCl_2$), three nitrates $(NaNo_3,\;Mg(No_3)_2\;and\;Ca(NO_3)_2)\;and\;three\;sulfates\;((NH_4)_2SO_4,\;Na_2SO_4\;and\;MgSO_4)$. The experimental results showed that (1) the permeate volume flux of the ESNA 1 membrane increased and decreased with the growth of the applied pressure and the feed concentration of salts, respectively. The real rejection of ESNA 1 membrane to most single salts increased with the growth of the permeate volume flux. (2) The reflection coefficients of ESNA 1 membrane to chlorides, nitrates and sulfates are 0.97, 0.96 and 0.99, respectively. The solute permeability of most salts except for magnesium and calcium salts increased with the growth of feed concentration. (3) The sequence of the rejections of ESNA 1 membrane to anions is $R({SO_4}^{2-})>R(CI)>R(NO_3)$ at the same feed concentration. While the sequence of the rejections to cations is cataloged into two cases: $R(Na^+)>R(K^+)>R(Mg^{2+})>R(Ca^{2+})$ at the concentration of 10 mol/$m^3$ and $R(Mg^{2+})>R(Ca^{2+})>R(Na^+)>R(K^+)$ at the concentration of 100 mol/$m^3$. The separation capability of a NF membrane is usually affected by the electrostatic effect and the steric-hindrance effect. In this case, the electrostatic effect is the major factor at low concentration and the steric-hindrance effect is the major factor at high concentration. Both the specific sorption and the hydration also reasonably influenced the separation performance of NF membrane to salts.

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