Improvement of reverse osmosis performance of polyamide thin-film composite membranes using TiO2nanoparticles

Abstract

The present paper explores the role of Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles in the improvement of performance of polyamide thin-film composite reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. It reports on novel PA/TiO2 thin-film nanocomposite (TFNC) membranes via in situ interfacial polymerization technique. It carried out by pre-dispersed TiO2 nanoparticles in either organic phase (dodecane) of trimesoyl chloride or aqueous phase of m-phenylenediamine. The change in chemical and physical properties of the synthesized TFNC membranes was evaluated through studying ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, contact angle measurements, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Also, the effect of TiO2 concentration on RO performance and organic antifouling resistance was investigated. The synthesized PA-TiO2 TFNC membranes exhibited an improvement in permeate flux which increased from 33.6 to 40 L/m2 h with slightly increase in salt rejection (%) which increased from 99.75 to 99.82%. The synthesized TFNC membrane with low-concentration TiO2 showed an improvement for the organic fouling resistance. The synthesized PA-TiO2 TFNC membranes offering a strong potential for possible use as a novel type of TFNC membranes with high RO performance.