A novel antifouling polyamide thin-film composite forward osmosis membrane fabricated by poly(m-phenylene isophthalamide) for seawater desalination

• Published in: Journal of environmental chemical engineering Vol. 11; no. 5; p. 110739
• Main Authors: Sun, Zhimeng, Zhang, Shihe, Zhang, Zhongguo, Yang, Yiyong, Zhang, Chunhui, Qian, Yu, Ren, Xiaojing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2023
• Subjects: Forward osmosis; PMIA substrate; Polyester mesh; Seawater desalination; Thin-film composite (TFC) membrane; PMIA substrate; Polyester mesh; Forward osmosis; Seawater desalination; Thin-film composite (TFC) membrane
• ISSN: 2213-3437; 2213-3437
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jece.2023.110739

Forward osmosis (FO) technology has attracted the interest of many researchers due to its excellent properties such as low energy consumption, fouling resistance, and easy cleaning. However, the lack of high-performance membrane materials makes it far from being practical on a large scale application. In this study, the poly(m-phenylene isophthalamide) (PMIA) was used as the substrate to be embedded in a high-porosity polyester mesh to form a support layer, and a forward osmosis composite membrane was prepared through an interfacial polymerization process. The effects of preparation conditions such as mesh size, scraping membrane thickness, and casting solution concentration on performance were studied. In the FO operation mode, with DI water as the feed solution and 1 mol/L NaCl as the draw solution, the water flux is 8.62 L•m−2•h−1, the reverse salt flux is 0.118 mol•m−2•h−1, and the rejection for NaCl exceeds 99%. Moreover, the membrane behaved excellent mechanical properties, with a tensile strength of 95 MPa. Compared with the two commercial FO membranes, the self-made PMIA TFC-FO showed excellent hydrophilicity and fouling resistance. This research demonstrated that PMIA is a proper candidate for fabricating of the TFC-FO membranes to achieve high water flux and selectivity in seawater desalination. •Poly(m-phenylene isophthalamide) (PMIA) has been successfully used to prepare forward osmosis composite membranes.•The introduction of polyester mesh endows the membrane with good mechanical properties, with a tensile strength of 95 MPa.•Membrane prepared under optimal conditions has a rejection of 99% for sodium chloride.