Organosilica Multichannel Membranes Prepared by Inner Coating Method Applied for Brackish Water Desalination

Abstract

A sol-gel method has been widely utilized for membrane fabrication due to low temperatures requirement and high purity. In the application of potable water production, membrane technology also plays an important role applied for brackish water treatment. This study aims to develop a multichannel membrane through an inner coating method and then to demonstrate the membrane performance for brackish water desalination. Two type of organosilica multichannel membranes were fabricated by mixing TEOS as a silica precursor using citric acid catalyst via sol-gel method and pectin as carbon templated. The multichannel membranes were inner-coated up 4 layers and calcined at 175 °C for organosilica multichannel membrane and 300 °C for silica-pectin multichannel membranes in vacuum condition. From FTIR results indicated that organosilica and silica-pectin multichannel membranes show siloxane (Si-O-Si), silanol (Si-OH) and silica-carbon (Si-C) groups. In addition, the organosilica multichannel membrane performed the water flux of 15.74 kg.m-2.h-1and salt rejection of 99.77%, where the silica pectin multichannel membrane performed the lower performance compare to organosilica multichannel membrane (water flux: 11.44 kg.m-2.h-1 and salt rejection: 99.48%). In conclusion, the organosilica multichannel membrane derived from citric acid as catalyst has a better performance compare to organosilica multichannel membrane derived from pectin applied for brackish water treatment. Keywords: organosilica multichannel membrane, inner coating, brackish water treatment