High performance Fabric-Reinforced sulfonated polysulfone supported thin film composite membrane

Abstract

Lack of mechanically durable and high osmosis performance membranes have been regarded as the main challenge that restricting the development of the current forward osmosis (FO) technology. Fabric-reinforced thin film composites (TFC) membranes possess excellent mechanical properties than free-standing membranes in practical uses. Sodium-type sulfonated polysulfone (sPSU-Na) and hydrogen-type sulfonated polysulfone (sPSU-H) were synthesized via sulfonated monomer copolymerization method in this work. A range of woven fabric-embedded polysulfone (PSU)/sPSU-Na and PSU/sPSU-H supported TFC membranes were developed. The effects of the type, sulfonation degree and content of sPSU on the structures, physicochemical properties and FO performances of the membranes were investigated comprehensively, and the corresponding mechanism was analyzed. The novel TFC membranes exhibited both outstanding FO performance and mechanical property. The optimal membrane showed a water flux (Jw) of 34.94 LMH with the specific reverse salt flux (Js/Jw) of 0.16 g/L using 1 M NaCl draw solution and deionized water feed. The Jw is the highest value reported for the fabric-reinforced FO membranes. Its tensile strength and modulus reached to 110 MPa and 567 MPa, respectively, which were more than ten-times higher compared to those of fabric-free membranes. This work is practical for developing high-performance TFC membranes for commercial applications.