The effect of coagulation time on the performance of thin film composreverse osmosis membrane supported on nonwoven polyester fabric

Abstract

This work aims to optimize the coagulation time for developing high-performance thin film composite polyamide reverse osmosis (TFC-PA-RO) membrane supported on nonwoven polyester fabric. A PA layer was synthesized by interfacial polymerization on the surface of polysulfone (PS) membrane. PS membrane was prepared by phase inversion technique. The effect of using two different types of nonwoven polyester fabric as support for the prepared membranes on their performance was investigated. The morphology of the prepared membranes was studied using scanning electron microscope. The performance (water flux and salt rejection) of the prepared RO membranes at different coagulation times (10, 30, 60, and 120 min) was compared with the standard RO membranes in 10 g L –1 NaCl solution. The TFC-PA-RO membrane supported on nonwoven polyester and prepared at a coagulation time of 30 min exhibited a maximum water flux of 47.6 L m –2 h –1 and salt rejection of 98% at 55 bar. On the other hand, the standard seawater high-rejection flat sheet membrane showed a maximum water flux of 27 L m –2 h –1 and salt rejection of 97.9%.