1. Characteristics and potential applications of a novel forward osmosis hollow fiber membrane
- Author
-
Chou, Shuren, Shi, Lei, Wang, Rong, Tang, Chuyang Y., Qiu, Changquan, and Fane, Anthony G.
- Subjects
- *
ARTIFICIAL membranes , *HOLLOW fibers , *OSMOSIS , *SEAWATER , *SALINE water conversion , *THIN films , *POLYMERIZATION , *SEPARATION (Technology) , *FEED-water - Abstract
Abstract: There has been a resurgence of interest in forward osmosis (FO) as a potential means of desalination, dewatering and in pressure retarded osmosis, which Sidney Loeb was advocating over 3decades ago. This paper describes the characteristics and potential applications of a newly developed FO hollow fiber membrane, which was fabricated by interfacial polymerization on the inner surface of a polyethersulfone (PES) hollow fiber. This FO membrane presents excellent intrinsic separation properties, with a water flux of 42.6L/m2 h using 0.5M NaCl as the draw solution and DI water as the feed with the active layer facing the draw solution orientation at 23°C. The corresponding ratio of salt flux to water flux was only 0.094g/L, which is superior to all other FO membranes reported in the open literature. To evaluate different application scenarios, various NaCl solutions (500ppm (8.6mM), 1wt.% (0.17M) and 3.5wt.% (0.59M)) were used as the feed water to test the performance of the FO membrane. The membrane can achieve a water flux of 12.4L/m2 h with 3.5wt.% NaCl solution as the feed and 2M NaCl as the draw solution, suggesting it has good potential for seawater desalination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2010
- Full Text
- View/download PDF