Microstructure Regulation of the Reverse Osmosis Membrane to Improve the Boron Removal Performance †

doi:10.7503/cjcu20190104

Abstract

Abstract:

Thin aromatic polyamide composite reverse osmosis membranes(TFC) were modified by grafting polyethyleneimine(PEI) chains and 4-azidobenzoic acid(ABA) molecules. Attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(ATR-FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS) were used to analyze the chemical composition and structure of the active separation layer. Then the hydrophobicity and charge of the reverse osmosis membrane were measured by static water contact angle instrument and Zeta potentiometer, the surface morphology was observed by scanning electron microscopy(SEM) and atomic force microscopy(AFM). Finally, the separation performance of the reverse osmosis membranes was tested in brackish water and seawater condition, respectively. The experimental results show that the separation layers of the reverse osmosis membrane become denser after modifying with PEI and/or ABA, and correspondingly the mass transfer resistance of boron permeation through reverse osmosis membranes is increased. The boron retention rate of the TFC-PEI-ABA membrane modified by both PEI and ABA reach 90.45%, which meets the requirements of World Health Organization(WHO) for water quality.

Key words: Reverse osmosis membrane, Polyethyleneimine, 4-Azidobenzoic acid, Removal of boron from seawater

CLC Number:

O631
P747+.5

TrendMD:

XIE Xin, ZHANG Xiao, LI Ruihan, SONG Xiaoxiao, LIU Lifen, GAO Congjie. Microstructure Regulation of the Reverse Osmosis Membrane to Improve the Boron Removal Performance ^†[J]. Chem. J. Chinese Universities, 2019, 40(9): 2033.

Figures/Tables 13

Fig.1 ATR-FTIR spectra of fabricated RO membranes a. TFC; b. TFC-ABA; c. TFC-ABA-UV; d. TFC-PEI-ABA; e. TFC-PEI-ABA-UV.

Membrane	Elemental composition(%)
Membrane	C	O	N
TFC	73.18	16.06	10.77
TFC-ABA	73.14	16.45	10.41
TFC-PEI	69.82	16.58	13.65
TFC-PEI-ABA	70.43	16.36	13.21

Fig.2 XPS spectra of TFC-PEI(A) and TFC-PEI-ABA(B)

Fig.3 Contact angles(A) and Zeta potentials(B) of fabricated RO membranes (B) a. TFC; b. TFC-ABA; c. TFC-PEI; d. TFC-PEI-ABA.

Fig.4 FE-SEM images of TFC(A), TFC-ABA(B), TFC-PEI(C) and TFC-PEI-ABA(D)

Fig.5 AFM images of TFC(A), TFC-ABA(B), TFC-PEI(C) and TFC-PEI-ABA(D) (A) Rq=58.6, Ra=46.2; (B) Rq=39.7, Ra=28.8; (C) Rq=60.9, Ra=46.8; (D) Rq=51.9, Ra=39.2.

Fig.6 Separation performances of fabricated membranes under low pressure(A) and simulated seawater conditions(B) (A) 2 g/L NaCl, 15.5 MPa, pH=7.0; (B) 32 g/L NaCl, 0.005 g/L H3BO3, 55 MPa, pH=8. Flux; rejertion.

Fig.7 Permeation selectivity for boron of fabricated membranes(A) and permeability coefficients of boron through the membranes(B)

RO membrane	Water flux/(L·m^-2·h^-1)	NaCl retention rate(%)	Boron retention rate(%)	Ref.
C12-RO	42.1	98.1	87.8	[31]
SRN-RO	80.3	98.4	62.0	[32]
CAI-RO	7.7	90.0	90.6	[33]
TFC-PEI-ABA	34.2	99.2	90.3	This work

Fig.8 Schematic diagram of modification process

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