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Improvement of performance and fouling resistance of polyamide reverse osmosis membranes using acrylamide and TiO2 nanoparticles under UV irradiation for water desalination

Asadollahi, M ; Sharif University of Technology | 2020

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  1. Type of Document: Article
  2. DOI: 10.1002/app.48461
  3. Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Inc , 2020
  4. Abstract:
  5. The purpose of this research is to explain the surface modification of fabricated polyamide reverse osmosis (RO) membranes using UV-initiated graft polymerization at different irradiation times (15, 30, 60, and 90 s) and various acrylamide concentrations (10, 20, and 30 g L−1). Also, coating of membranes surface with various concentrations of TiO2 nanoparticles (10, 20, 30, and 50 ppm) followed by the same UV irradiation times was investigated. After that, the membranes modification was done by grafting of acrylamide blended with TiO2 nanoparticles via UV irradiation. The characterization of membranes surface properties and their performance were systematically carried out. The results demonstrated the enhanced hydrophilicity of modified membranes and confirmed the presence of acrylamide and nanoparticles on the membranes surface. Acrylamide-grafted membranes could reach to higher water flux than pristine membrane with little reduction in salt rejection. Moreover, TiO2-coated membranes indicated enhancement of water flux continuously with increase in nanoparticles concentration and irradiation time and rejection of membranes was slightly decreased at low irradiation times. Also, RO membranes modified simultaneously with acrylamide and TiO2 nanoparticles under UV irradiation exhibited improved water flux up to 18%, slightly higher rejection, and considerable better fouling resistance compared with pristine one. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020, 137, 48461. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Aromatic polyamide thin film composite reverse osmosis (RO) membranes fabricated through interfacial polymerization process between m-phenylenediamine and trimesoyl chloride on the porous polysulfone support. The desirable UV irradiation time for surface modification of RO membranes was up to 90 s. Modification of RO membranes surface was carried out by UV-initiated grafting of acrylamide, coating of membranes surface with TiO2 nanoparticles followed by the UV irradiation, and grafting of acrylamide blended with TiO2 nanoparticles via UV irradiation. ATR-FTIR, SEM, EDX, and AFM confirmed modification of membranes surface with acrylamide, TiO2 nanoparticles, and both of them. All modified membranes had lower contact angle than unmodified one indicating enhanced surface hydrophilicity. Acrylamide-grafted membranes could result in higher water flux than unmodified membrane with little reduction in salt rejection. TiO2-coated membranes indicated improvement of water flux with increase in nanoparticles concentration and irradiation time and rejection of membranes was decreased slightly at low UV irradiation times. RO membranes modified simultaneously with acrylamide and TiO2 nanoparticles under UV irradiation had improved water flux, slightly higher rejection, and considerable enhanced antifouling property compared with unmodified one. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc
  6. Keywords:
  7. Acrylamide ; Polyamide reverse osmosis membranes ; Surface modification ; TiO2 nanoparticles ; UV irradiation ; Acrylic monomers ; Amides ; Aromatic compounds ; Chlorine compounds ; Coatings ; Composite membranes ; Contact angle ; Desalination ; Grafting (chemical) ; Hydrophilicity ; Irradiation ; Nanoparticles ; Polymerization ; Radiation ; Reverse osmosis ; Surface treatment ; Titanium dioxide ; Water filtration ; Acrylamides ; Antifouling property ; Aromatic polyamides ; Graft polymerization ; Interfacial polymerization ; Modified membranes ; Porous polysulfones ; Osmosis membranes
  8. Source: Journal of Applied Polymer Science ; Volume 137, Issue 11 , 2020
  9. URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/app.48461