Mohammed Shabin, Nassrullah Haya, Aburabie Jamaliah, Hashaikeh Raed
NYUAD Water Research Center, Department of Engineering, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 129188, United Arab Emirates.
Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Division, Tandon School of Engineering, New York University, New York, NY 11201, USA.
Membranes (Basel). 2022 Sep 27;12(10):940. doi: 10.3390/membranes12100940.
Thin-film composite (TFC) structure has been widely employed in polymeric membrane fabrication to achieve superior performance for desalination and water treatment. In particular, TFC membranes with a thin active polyamide (PA) selective layer are proven to offer improved permeability without compromising salt rejection. Several modifications to TFCs have been proposed over the years to enhance their performance by altering the selective, intermediate, or support layer. This study proposes the modification of the membrane support using nanozeolites prepared by a unique ball milling technique for tailoring the nanofiltration performance. TFC membranes were fabricated by the interfacial polymerization of Piperazine (PIP) and 1,3,5-Benzenetricarbonyl trichloride (TMC) on Polysulfone (PSf) supports modified with nanozeolites. The nanozeolite concentration in the casting solution varied from 0 to 0.2%. Supports prepared with different nanozeolite concentrations resulted in varied hydrophilicity, porosity, and permeability. Results showed that optimum membrane performance was obtained for supports modified with 0.1% nanozeolites where pure water permeance of 17.1 ± 2.1 Lm h bar was observed with a salt rejection of 11.47%, 33.84%, 94%, and 95.1% for NaCl, MgCl, MgSO and NaSO respectively.
薄膜复合（TFC）结构已广泛应用于聚合物膜制造中，以实现卓越的脱盐和水处理性能。特别是，具有薄活性聚酰胺（PA）选择层的TFC膜已被证明在不影响脱盐率的情况下可提高渗透率。多年来，人们提出了对TFC进行多种改性，以通过改变选择层、中间层或支撑层来提高其性能。本研究提出使用通过独特的球磨技术制备的纳米沸石对膜支撑体进行改性，以调整纳滤性能。通过在经纳米沸石改性的聚砜（PSf）支撑体上使哌嗪（PIP）和1,3,5-苯三甲酰三氯（TMC）进行界面聚合来制备TFC膜。铸膜液中的纳米沸石浓度在0至0.2%之间变化。用不同纳米沸石浓度制备的支撑体导致了不同的亲水性、孔隙率和渗透率。结果表明，用0.1%纳米沸石改性的支撑体获得了最佳的膜性能，其中观察到纯水透过率为17.1±2.1 Lm h bar，对NaCl、MgCl、MgSO和NaSO的脱盐率分别为11.47%、33.84%、94%和95.1%。
