Desalination by reverse osmosis using MFI zeolite membranes

Abstract

This paper reports an experimental study on the reverse osmosis desalination of aqueous solutions using α-alumina-supported MFI-type zeolite membranes. A Na + rejection of 76.7% with a water flux of about 0.112 kg m −2 h −1 was obtained for a 0.1 M NaCl feed solution under an applied pressure of 2.07 MPa. For a complex feed solution containing 0.1 M NaCl + 0.1 M KCl + 0.1 M NH 4Cl + 0.1 M CaCl 2 + 0.1 M MgCl 2, rejections of Na +, K +, NH 4 +, Ca 2+, and Mg 2+ reached 58.1%, 62.6%, 79.9%, 80.7%, and 88.4%, respectively, with a water flux of 0.058 kg m −2 h −1, after 145 h of operation at an applied pressure of 2.4 MPa.