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Membrane Water Treatment Volume 10, Number 5, September 2019 , pages 381-385 DOI: https://doi.org/10.12989/mwt.2019.10.5.381 |
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Fouling resistant membrane tailored by polyethylene glycol in oxidative environment for desalination |
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Ashish R. Kavaiya and Hiren D. Raval
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| Abstract | ||
| Surface modification is very efficient and scalable approach to achieve improved membrane performance. We treated Reverse Osmosis Thin Film Composite (TFC RO) membrane with various concentrations of Polyethylene Glycol (PEG), a hydrophilic polymer after activation with sodium hypochlorite. This treatment resulted in an increment of the water flux by 43% and the salt rejection by 2.36% for the 3000 mg/l PEG-treated membrane. Further, these PEG-treated membranes were exposed to a mixture of 3000 mg/l PEG and 1000 mg/l sodium hypochlorite for 1 hour. Further modification of this membrane by PEG and sodium hypochlorite mixture increased the water permeance up to 133% when compared with the virgin TFC RO membrane. We characterized the treated membranes to understand the changes in wettability by contact angle analysis, changes in surface morphology and roughness by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM) analysis. | ||
| Key Words | ||
| antifouling; desalination; membrane; thin film composite; sustainability | ||
| Address | ||
| Membrane Science and Separation Technology Division, CSIR-Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSIR-CSMCRI), Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), Gijubhai Badheka Marg, Bhavnagar- 364002, Gujarat, India | ||
