Search

ABSTRACT: In a previous study, we proved that tailoring the polyamide backbone stiffness is an effective way to fabricate high‐performance polyamide nanofiltration (NF) membranes. However, in the previous study, we mainly focused on the flat membrane and did not consider its chlorine tolerance. In this study, by regulating the aqueous‐phase compositions in the interfacial polymerization process, chlorine tolerance on NF hollow‐fiber membranes was endowed while the membrane performance stayed high. The experimental results show that when the ratio of Piperazine (PIP)–bisphenol F (BPF)/2,2′‐bis(1‐hydroxyl‐1‐trifluoromethyl‐2,2,2‐triflutoethyl)‐4,4′‐methylene dianiline (BHTTM) was 5:1:4, the NF membrane possessed a permeate flux of 21.0 L m−2 h−1 bar−1 and an Na2SO4 rejection up to 90.0%. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis also confirmed that the polymerization degree of the PIP–BPF–BHTTM NF membrane was the highest. Moreover, the NF membrane could tolerate active chlorine to over 10,000 ppm h Cl. After the active chlorine treatment, the permeate flux increased over 30.0 L m−2 h−1 bar−1, and the Na2SO4 rejection was about 90.0%. Although the PIP–BHTTM NF membrane also possessed good chlorine tolerance, its permeate flux (after active chlorine treatment) was only 60% of that of the PIP–BPF–BHTTM NF membrane. Therefore, the PIP–BPF–BHTTM NF membrane possessed a combination of high flux and high chlorine tolerance and showed good potential in water treatment in rigorous environments. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018, 135, 46482. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel high-flux thin film composite (TFC) nanofiltration (NF) membranes were fabricated by the sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) pre-oxidation of the mixed diamine monomers of piperazine (PIP) and 2,2′-bis(1-hydroxyl-1-trifluoromethyl-2,2,2-triflutoethyl)-4,4′-methylenedianiline (BHTTM) in the aqueous phase solution, and via interfacial polymerization (IP) with trimesoyl chloride (TMC) on the polysulfone (PSF) ultrafiltration (UF) membrane. The chemical change of the pre-oxidation aqueous phase solution was characterized by LC-MS. By optimizing the NaClO and NaOH content in the aqueous phase solution, the pure water flux was improved greatly and the salt rejection kept on a high level (>90%). The properties of NF membranes were characterized by XPS, SEM, AFM and contact angle. Through the NaClO pre-oxidation of the mixed diamine monomers of PIP and BHTTM in the aqueous phase solution, the active layer of NF membrane became thinner and the pore size of NF membrane was enlarged. Besides, after oxidation treatment by 3000 ppm active chlorine solution for 1 h, the NF membrane exhibited pure water flux (PWF) with 161 (LMH) and Na 2 SO 4 rejection of 92.1% under 0.6 MPa. The molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) of the NF membrane was greater than 500, which was calculated from the carbohydrates rejection. The good performance and the satisfactory stability of the novel high-flux NF membrane demonstrated its good potential in the practical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Good mechanical strength, high water flux and salt rejection, and highly chlorine-tolerant property are essential for nanofiltration (NF) membrane. To achieve these properties, polyethersulfone (PES) NF thin-film composite (TFC) membrane was prepared via interfacial polymerization using piperazine (PIP) and 2,2′-bis(1-hydroxyl-1-trifluoromethyl-2,2,2-triflutoethyl)-4,4′-methylenedianiline (BHTTM) as aqueous monomers, trimesoyl chloride (TMC) as organic monomers, and PES three-channel capillary ultrafiltration (UF) membrane as substrate. The prepared NF membrane displays pure water flux of 36.1 L m −2 h −1 and Na 2 SO 4 rejection of 96.8% at 4 bar. NaClO solution was used to treat NF membranes for the evaluation of NF membrane chlorine-tolerant property. The effects of NaClO concentration, contact time and operating pressure on the chlorine-tolerant property of NF membrane have been thoroughly investigated. Particularly, the durability of NF membrane versus Cl was tested though long-term test. The pure water flux and Na 2 SO 4 rejection of NF membrane after 5000 ppm-h NaClO immersion was 43.4 L m −2 h −1 and 99.8% at 4 bar, respectively. The fabricated NF membrane could tolerant 13000 ppm-h Cl under 4 bar, and the water flux and Na 2 SO 4 rejection are maintain at 51.6 L m −2 h −1 and 99.6% during NF running process, respectively. Moreover, NF membrane exhibits 3.84×10 5 ppm-h chlorine-tolerant at 0 bar. These results indicated that the fabricated PES three-channel capillary NF membrane could be applied to practical process of desalination or water softening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The TFC RO/NF membranes are the predominant membranes applied in desalination, and heat curing is an essential step in its industrial production, which increases the polyamide cross-linking degree and facilitate packing but leads permeability decrease. Nevertheless, the mechanism of heat curing on TFC membranes permeation resistance changes is still ambiguous. Figuring it out will aid in crafting a more effective optimization strategy in high flux membrane preparation. Herein, we prepared a range of TFC RO/NF membranes with various monomer concentrations on different substrates and quantified the permeation resistance changes by a resistance-in-series model. For nascent TFC RO/NF membranes, the PA layer provided almost all permeation resistance. After heat curing, the substrate exhibited a marked increase in permeation resistance. The change in the permeation resistance composition was further exacerbated by the decrease in monomer concentration. For TFC NF membranes with heat curing, the proportion of substrate permeation resistance increased significantly, rising from 31.62 % to 75.05 %. This study made a comprehensive analysis of the impact of the permeation resistance in TFC RO/NF membranes caused by heat curing, enriched the insight into the impact of heat curing on TFC membranes, and helped to prepare TFC membranes with better desalination performance. [Display omitted] • The resistance proportions of RO/NF membranes are quantitatively revealed. • The substrate resistance increases significantly due to heat curing. • Low monomer concentration results in high substrate resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work describes a novel nanofiltration membrane fabrication strategy in which the octadecylamine-grafted GO with the organophilic property is incorporated in organic phase during interfacial polymerization (IP) in order to protect the polyamide backbone from the attack of free chlorine. Meanwhile, the aqueous phase containing mixed amines of piperazine (PIP) and the fluorine-containing monomer (2,2′-bis(1-hydroxyl-1-trifluoromethyl-2,2,2-triflutoethyl)-4,4′-methylenedianiline, BHTTM) enables further improvement in chlorine resistance of the thin film nanocomposite (TFN) membrane. The modified GO was systematically characterized by TEM, FT-IR, TGA and XRD. And the membrane properties were investigated by XPS, TEM, AFM and dynamic contact angle. The octadecylamine-grafted GO TFN membrane (TFNMA-GO-ODA) exhibits measurably smoother and less hydrophilic surface compared to TFC membrane with mixed amines as well as the similarly fabricated GO TFN membrane. The TFNMA-GO-ODA demonstrated a pure water flux of 49.6 L m −2 h −1 (0.6 MPa), which was nearly 2.5 times than that of pristine PIP TFC membrane and 1.6 times than that of mixed-amine TFC membrane, while keeping high Na 2 SO 4 rejection of 98.4%. More importantly, the TFNMA-GO-ODA presented excellent chlorine resistance, benefiting from the existence of fluorine-containing groups in BHTTM and the protective effect of stable graphene nanosheets. The results indicate great potential of such membrane in water desalination and purification in industrial scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]