A new commercial thin film composite membrane for forward osmosis

Abstract

New membranes for forward osmosis (FO) have been made by numerous academic groups around the world. Few of these designs, however, have made it to full-scale production. For two decades, the only FO membrane made on a full-scale production line was a cellulose acetate membrane from Hydration Technology Innovations (HTI). Only recently have other companies designed new membranes and produced them on a large scale, but those membranes are still largely unavailable to academic researchers. In this study, we report on a newly launched forward osmosis membrane from HTI. This thin film composite (TFC) membrane is a departure from their cellulose acetate platform and is among if not the first TFC membrane to be made on a 40-inch line. The TFC membrane tested, which is their first generation TFC membrane, exhibited high water permeance and good mechanical strength relative to other membranes discussed in the academic literature. Under FO tests, the membrane achieved high water flux of 46.4 and 22.9Lm−2h−1 with a modest salt flux of 24.9 and 6.4gm−2h−1 using 1M sodium chloride against deionized water in pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) and FO modes, respectively.