Improved hydrophilicity and anti-fouling properties of polyamide TFN membrane comprising carbide derived carbon

Abstract

Improving the fouling resistance of reverse osmosis (RO) membranes is still needed in the desalination industry. In this paper, we report for the first time the preparation of Carbide Derived Carbon (CDC)/polyamide hybrid membrane to improve the fouling-resistance of RO membranes. The merits of the prepared membranes were validated with permeation experiments and a series of characterization methods. TEM images of the synthesized CDC particles showed a mixture of amorphous and ordered graphitized carbon and the degree of ordering was directly proportional to the chlorination temperature while SEM images of the prepared membranes showed the ridge and valley structure of aromatic polyamide. Significant improvement of the surface hydrophilicity of the nanocomposite membrane (M3) was observed compared to that of the control polyamide membrane (M0). Desalination experiments showed that the permeate flux increased 51%, 45% and 38% under pure water, brackish water, and fouling conditions; respectively. M0 membrane lost 26% of its initial flux while M3 membrane lost only 11.5% after 2h of continuous operation. This study showed that the CDC can significantly enhance the fouling resistance and permeability of the polyamide RO-membranes.