• 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%.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.140-146
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• 2019

In this study, a selective layer of poly styrene sulfonic acid (PSSA) and polyethyleneimine (PEI) was formed by layer-by-layer method onto a porous polyacrylonitrile (PAN) hollow fiber membrane as the suppoter membrane. The salting out method was used by adding Mg salt to the coating solution. Several experimental conditions of the ionic strength, polymer concentration, and coating time were investigated, and the flux and rejection were measured at the operating pressure of 2 atm for 100 mg/L of NaCl, $MgCl_2$, and $CaSO_4$ as the feed solution. The membranes coated with PSSA 20,000 ppm, coating time 3 minutes, ionic strength 1.0, PEI 30,000 ppm, coating time 1 minute, and ionic strength 0.1 were observed the best. In the 100 ppm NaCl, $MgCl_2$, and $CaSO_4$ feed solutions, the flux of 20.4, 19.4, and 18.7 LMH, and the rejection of 67, 90, and 66.6%, respectively.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.329-338
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• 2017

Nanofiltration (NF) technology is a membrane-based separation process, which has been pervasively used as the high-effective technology for drinking water treatment. In this study, a kind of composite polyamide NF thin film is selected to investigate the removal efficiencies and mechanisms of 14 trace drugs, which are commonly and frequently detected in the drinking water. The results show that the removal efficiencies of most drugs are quite high, indicating the NF is an effective technology to improve the quality of drinking water. The removal efficiencies of carbamazepine, acetaminophen, estradiol, antipyrine and isopropyl-antipyrine in ultrapure water are $78.8{\pm}0.8%$, $16.4{\pm}0.5%$, $65.4{\pm}1.8%$, $71.1{\pm}1.5%$ and $89.8{\pm}0.38%$, respectively. Their rejection rates increase with the increasing of their three-dimensional sizes, which indicates that the steric exclusion plays a significant role in removal of these five drugs. The adsorption of estradiol with the strongest hydrophobicity has been studied, which indicates that adsorption is not negligible in terms of removing this kind of hydrophobic neutral drugs by NF technology. The removal efficiencies of indomethacin, diclofenac, naproxen, ketoprofen, ibuprofen, clofibric acid, sulfamethoxazole, amoxicillin and bezafibrate in ultrapure water are $81{\pm}0.3%$, $86.3{\pm}0.5%$, $85.7{\pm}0.4%$, $93.3{\pm}0.3%$, $86.6{\pm}2.5%$, $90.6{\pm}0.4%$, $59.7{\pm}1.7%$, $80.3{\pm}1.4%$ and $80{\pm}0.5%$, respectively. For these nine drugs, their rejection rates are better than the above five drugs because they are negatively charged in ultrapure water. Meanwhile, the membrane surface presents the negative charge. Therefore, both electrostatic repulsion and steric exclusion are indispensable in removing these negatively charged drugs. This study provides helpful and scientific support of a highly effective water treatment method for removing drugs pollutants from drinking water.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.235-242
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• 2012

Ammonium perchlorate (AP) is primarily derived from the process of liquid incineration treatment when dismantling a solid rocket propellant. A series of batch dead-end nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) membrane experiments were conducted to explore the retention mechanisms of AP under various hydrodynamic and solution conditions. Low levels of silicate type of siloxane had been detected through the GC/MS and FTIR analysis of liquid solutions extracted from solid ammonium perchlorate composite propellant (APCP). It is indicated that NF/RO membranes fouling in the presence of APCP was mainly attributed to the AP interactions because the concentration of silicate type of siloxane was negligible compared to that of AP. The osmotic pressure of AP was presumably resulted in the flux declines ranging from 13 to 17% in the case of the application of low-pressure (551 and 896 kPa for NF and RO) compared to those in application of high-pressure. The retention of AP by NF/RO membranes significantly varied from approximately 10 to 70% for NF and 26 to 87% for RO, depending on the operating and solution water chemistry conditions. The results suggested that retention efficiency of AP was fairly increased by reducing concentration polarization (i.e. application of low-pressure and stirring speed of 600 rpm) and increasing the pH of a solution. The result of this study was also consistent with the previous modeling of 'solute mass transfer of NF/RO membranes' and demonstrated that hydrodynamic and solution water chemistry conditions are to be a key factor in the retention of AP by NF/RO membranes.