High Pure Water Permeability Research Articles

Performance enhancement of ultrafiltration membrane via simple deposition of polymer-based modifiers

Ultrafiltration (UF) membrane is extensively utilized in water treatment for the removal of colloidal particles, dissolved organic matters and microorganisms. These colloidal particles and organic matters are prone to being adsorbed on membrane surface known as membrane fouling, which increases operational costs and lowers down membrane efficiency. In this work, a group of synthesized hydrophilic random copolymers and homopolymer were utilized to enhance PES UF membrane performance by a simple deposition of a thin layer. Despite the increased intrinsic resistance as a result of the thin modification layer, higher pure water permeability and recovery rate were observed for the modified Polyethersulfone (PES) membrane during Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) fouling test in comparison to the virgin membrane. Moreover, the stability of the adsorbed polymer layers was evaluated by a cyclic fouling test and chemical cleaning endurance assessment. The membrane surface morphology and topography were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and atom force microscope (AFM). The chemical composition before and after clcylic fouling test and chemical cleaning were studied with attenuated total reflectance fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy. The results show that the random copolymer modified membrane exhibited average 26 % rises in water permeability compared with the virgin PES UF membrane when 0.5 wt% BSA solution was used as feed. The stable permeability and flux recovery rate during the cyclic study with chemical cleaning suggest good affinity of the newly synthesized random copolymer with the PES membrane and water. This strategy successfully enhanced the UF membrane anti-fouling performance.

Enhanced flux and antifouling property on municipal wastewater of polyethersulfone hollow fiber membranes by embedding carboxylated multi-walled carbon nanotubes and a vitamin E derivative

Fouling of membranes is a key issue for their industrial applications. In this study, carboxylated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs-COOH) were embedded in hollow fiber membranes (HFMs) developed by blending polyethersulfone (PES), and d-α-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate (TPGS, a vitamin E derivative) to remarkably enhance their permeation flux and fouling-resistance. The antifouling performance of HFMs was examined by calculating the change in pure water permeability (PWP) due to fouling by protein and synthetic municipal wastewater (SMWW). Modified HFMs containing 1 wt% TPGS and 0.025 wt% MWCNTs-COOH showed the highest hydrophilicity and lowest surface roughness among all HFMs, which resulted in ~187% higher PWP as compared to that of the pristine HFMs, and the highest flux recovery ratio (FRR) of 89.3 ± 2.1% and 81.4 ± 3.5% after protein and SMWW fouling, respectively. There are literature studies with higher FRR, but they have very low PWP, whereas some studies have reported high PWP with low FRR. In contrast to the literature, the results reported here have both high flux (PWP) and high antifouling property (FRR). Thus, the novel PES composite HFMs containing TPGS and MWCNTs-COOH showed the excellent antifouling property, which makes them potentially useful for wastewater treatment.

A facile method to modify polypropylene membrane by polydopamine coating via inkjet printing technique for superior performance

Membrane surface functionalization based on mussel-inspired polydopamine (PDA) deposition for enhancing antifouling ability has attracted considerable attention. However, high cost of dopamine (DA) and long-time of reaction during self-polymerization of DA in aqueous solution remain the major problems impeding its practical application. This study provided a first report on a low-cost and facile membrane modification approach based on inkjet printing of DA and sodium periodate (SP) to rapidly deposit PDA on polypropylene (PP) membrane. Compared with the pristine PP membrane and DA printed PP membrane, the PDA-SP coated PP membrane demonstrated superior hydrophilicity (67.2°), high pure water permeability (2156.8 L·m−2·h−1) and antifouling property, due to the improved oxidation degree of PDA. Moreover, the modified membrane possesses good chemical stability in aqueous solution over the wide range of pH 2–9. The inkjet printing integrated oxidant-induced mussel-inspired modification proposed in this study is substrate-independent, and can be applied to various geometries and materials, showing broad application prospects in membrane fabrication.

Effect of silica on flexibility of yttria-stabilized zirconia nanofibers for developing water purification membranes

Abstract The development of flexible ceramic nanofibers has attracted much attention because they may be able to overcome the intrinsic brittleness of ceramics and thus be applied towards air/water filtration media. Yttria-stabilized zirconia/silica (YSZ/silica) nanofibers with excellent flexibility could be prepared through (1) sol-gel, (2) electrospinning, and (3) calcination processes. Our research focused on the effect of ceramic precursor concentrations [tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and zirconium (IV) propoxide (ZrP)] on improving the flexibility of YSZ/silica nanofibers. By adjusting the TEOS and ZrP concentrations, two major parameters (grain size and fiber diameter, respectively) can be controlled. It was consequently revealed that smaller grain size and larger fiber diameter could increase the flexibility of YSZ/silica nanofibers. In addition, flexible YSZ/silica nanofibers successfully performed as microfiltration (MF) membranes, while exhibiting high pure water permeability and a high rejection rate (%) for polymeric nanoparticles.

Development of an HKUST-1 Nanofiller-Templated Poly(ether sulfone) Mixed Matrix Membrane for a Highly Efficient Ultrafiltration Process.

Mixed-matrix membranes (MMMs) have been drawing increasing attention due to the high permeability and high rejection capabilities for highly efficient wastewater treatment applications. Nonetheless, improving the water permeance while maintaining the high rejection capability is still an ongoing challenge for the practically state-of-the-art MMMs. Herein, a new class of poly(ether sulfone) (PES) based MMM containing metal-organic framework (MOF) nanofillers of HKUST-1 and blending with poly(methyl methacrylate- co-methacrylic acid) (PMMA- co-MAA) copolymer, designated as HKUST-1@mPES MMM, were developed for the highly efficient ultrafiltration (UF) process. In this study, the nanosized HKUST-1 nanofillers were removed by water dissolution as sacrificial templating materials, so that the additional nanovoids were deliberately generated throughout the dense polymer matrix. The introduction of PMMA- co-MAA copolymer facilitated the even dispersion of HKUST-1 nanofillers in a polymer matrix, by constructing the bridge connection between inorganic nanofillers and organic matrix. The resultant HKUST-1@mPES MMM exhibited a high pure water permeability (PWP) up to 490 L·m-2·h-1·bar-1, substantially reaching nearly 3 times higher than that of the mPES membrane without HKUST-1 nanofillers loading and maintaining a relatively high BSA rejection rate of 96% without obvious deterioration. The newly developed HKUST-1@mPES MMM thereby exhibited a comparable separation efficiency compared to the cutting-edge UF membranes reported so far. Overall, the nanovoid-generated approach provides new insight into developing advanced MMMs used for highly efficient water treatment applications.

Pore-functionalized ceramic membrane with isotropically impregnated cobalt oxide for sulfamethoxazole degradation and membrane fouling elimination: Synergistic effect between catalytic oxidation and membrane separation

In this study, a pore-functionalized ceramic membrane with isotropically impregnated cobalt oxide (CoCM) was prepared via an in-situ self-sacrificed template method and applied for sulfamethoxazole (SMX) degradation by peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation under a dead-end membrane filtration mode. The physical and chemical properties of the membranes were characterized via FESEM, AFM, XRD and XPS. Results indicated that Co3O4 had been impregnated into the macropores uniformly throughout the whole ceramic membrane without pore blocking. The formation of CoOAl bonding inhibited the leaching of cobalt during the filtration while the hydroxyl group Co−OH played a crucial role during the radical generation. The contact angle of CoCM decreased, resulting in a higher pure water permeability as compared to the original ceramic membrane. The catalytic degradation of SMX showed that its removal efficiency could be influenced by both contact time and PMS dosage. CoCM exhibited superior antifouling property during the humic acid (HA) removal study. The stability and regeneration of CoCM were investigated. Furthermore, the radical quenching experiment was conducted and the concentration of sulfate radical was quantitatively estimated. Finally, the PMS activation as well as organics removal mechanism in CoCM via the synergistic coupling of catalytic Co3O4 and membrane separation were proposed.

Morphology and performance of pvdf membranes composed of triethylphospate and dimethyl sulfoxide solvents

This study investigated the impact of different solvents on the characteristics and filtration performance of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes. PVDF membranes were fabricated via the non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) technique by dissolving 20% w/w PVDF in triethyl phosphate (TEP) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), separately. The Hansen solubility parameter was studied as the kinetic aspect that influences membrane formation. The characteristics of the membranes were investigated including the membrane morphological structure, surface roughness, chemical group composition, and tensile strength. The filtration performance of the resulting membranes was also conducted using cross-flow filtration including pure water permeability (PWP), synthetic CaCO3 suspension rejection, and membrane recovery after long-term filtration. The experimental results showed that DMSO has a closer solvent affinity with the non-solvent resulting in a membrane with higher porosity than the TEP membrane with a denser structure. Furthermore, the PVDF/DMSO membrane also had higher PWP than the PVDF/TEP membrane. However, in terms of the filtration performance of the CaCO3 suspension, the PVDF/TEP membrane showed the best performance with higher flux permeation, better flux recovery of up to 96.6%, and the highest solute rejection reaching 100%. The analysis of the experimental results are discussed further.

Surface enriched sulfonated polyarylene ether benzonitrile (SPEB) that enhances heavy metal removal from polyacrylonitrile (PAN) thin-film composite nanofiltration membranes

This study aims to develop a new strategy to fabricate nanofiltration (NF) membranes with high removal efficiency for heavy metal ions in wide acidic pH range. Unlike conventional polyacrylonitrile (PAN) based thin film composite (TFC) membranes that requires multiple coating steps, the new NF membrane was fabricated through direct interfacial polymerization with positively charged polyethyleneimine (PEI) on PAN substrates blended with sulfonated polyarylene ether benzonitrile (SPEB). The unique surface migration effect of SPEB led to a smoother, more hydrophilic surface and sponge-like structure of the substrate. Such a modified structure was found to be crucial to achieve smaller pore size as well as better adhesion of the selective layer and the substrate of the modified TFC membrane. The resultant NF membrane has a reasonably high pure water permeability of 7.62 ± 0.81 LMH·bar−1, and a molecular weight cut-off of 300 Da. It achieved a reasonably high rejection towards heavy metal cations such as Pb2+, Cd2+, Ni2+ over 93.0% in a wide acidic pH range. This work may provide insightful guidelines for upgrading current NF membranes for heavy metal removals in harsh acidic environments.

Efficiently improved oil/water separation using high flux and superior antifouling polysulfone hollow fiber membranes modified with functionalized carbon nanotubes/graphene oxide nanohybrid

Oil/water separation using membrane technology has gained a tremendous attention in the recent years. In the present study, a nanohybrid consisting of carboxylated carbon nanotubes and graphene oxide nanosheets (CNTs/GO) was embedded in polysulfone hollow fiber membranes (P HFMs) with an aim to improve their physicochemical properties, mainly surface functionality, hydrophilicity, mechanical strength and surface charge, and separation performance including antifouling property, water permeation flux and oil/water separation. It was found that the blending of nanohybrid in HFMs showed the positive effect on the properties of HFMs with high hydrophilic nature (water contact angle of ∼51.4°), high mechanical strength (Young’s modulus of 510.2 ± 12.4 MPa) and high negative surface charge (zeta potential of – 35.9 ± 2.5 mV). Notably, high pure water permeability (487.9 ± 25.4 mL/m2/h/mmHg), superior antifouling property with 90.5% flux recovery, and significantly high oil/water separation (98.7 ± 1.2%) were measured for Psf composite HFMs with 1 wt.% CNTs/GO nanohybrid. Thus, this study, through the above-obtained experimental results, demonstrated the potential efficacy of the polysulfone-CNTs/GO composite HFMs for efficient oil/water separation.

Copper sulfide nanoparticles/carboxylated graphene oxide nanosheets blended polyethersulfone hollow fiber membranes: Development and characterization for efficient separation of oxybenzone and bisphenol A from water

In this study, copper sulfide/carboxylated graphene oxide nanohybrid (CuSG) blended polyethersulfone hollow fiber membranes (P HFMs) were developed for efficient separation of oxybenzone and bisphenol A from water. The composite HFMs showed remarkable improvement in hydrophilicity, mechanical strength, thermal stability, bulk porosity, and surface charge. The notably high pure water permeability (528.2 ± 44.6 mL/m2/h/mmHg) and 90.1% flux recovery were measured for HFMs blended with 1 wt % CuSG nanohybrid. Also, significantly high removal of oxybenzone (98 ± 1%) and bisphenol A (95 ± 2%) from EDCs-spiked water was measured by these composite HFMs. Thus, the experimental results demonstrated the potential efficacy of the novel composite polymeric HFMs for the separation applications.

Low-pressure electroneutral loose nanofiltration membranes with polyphenol-inspired coatings for effective dye/divalent salt separation

Low-pressure electroneutral loose nanofiltration (NF) membranes were facilely fabricated by co-deposition of polyphenol-inspired epigallocatechin gallate (EGCg) and polyethyleneimine (PEI) on polyethersulfone (PES) ultrafiltration substrates. The effects of PEI with different molecular weights on co-deposition behavior, morphologies, surface properties, as well as separation performance of the resultant membranes were investigated in detail. The results showed that with the increase of PEI molecular weight from 600 to 10,000, the co-deposition amount of EGCg/PEI on membrane surface decreased, while the EGCg/PEI selective layer became denser. As a result, the EGCg/PEI 600 co-deposited membrane, which possessed an electroneutral surface with the best hydrophilicity, exhibited the optimal separation performance among the co-deposited membranes in the context of textile wastewater treatment. It had the highest pure water permeability (19.0 L/(m2·h·bar)) and excellent rejections towards dyes with different charges (e.g. 99.0% for Congo Red) as well as the lowest rejections towards divalent salts (e.g. 4.1% for Na2SO4) at an operating pressure of 2 bar. Moreover, the membranes exhibited good organic solvent resistance, structural stability together with favorable performance in dealing with textile effluent, demonstrating their great potential in practical applications.

Fabrication of a highly permeable composite nanofiltration membrane via interfacial polymerization by adding a novel acyl chloride monomer with an anhydride group

In this study, a novel acyl chloride monomer trimellitic anhydride chloride (TAC) with an anhydride group was blended with trimesoyl chloride (TMC) as organic phase monomers to fabricate high-flux nanofiltration membranes. Due to the reaction activity differences of organic phase monomers (TMC and TAC) with piperazine, the chemical compositions and structures of polyamide active layer could be tailored through varying the TAC content. It was found that the participation of TAC could yield a looser polyamide separation layer on the polysulfone support membrane, along with an increased surface roughness, hydrophilicity, pore size and negative charge density. As a result, the resultant membrane exhibited excellent water-salt separation. When the TAC concentration was increased to 0.04 wt%, the optimized membrane exhibited a high pure water permeability (PWP) of 13.2 L m−2 h−1 bar−1, up to 2-fold, in comparison with the pristine membrane, whereas the salt rejections of Na2SO4, MgSO4 and NaCl were 97.6%, 92.7%, and 34.0%, respectively. This work provided a novel and facile strategy to develop high-flux NF membrane.

Oxidant-induced plant phenol surface chemistry for multifunctional coatings: Mechanism and potential applications

Plant-inspired polyphenols are capable of forming substrate-independent coatings for versatile functionalization via oxidative self-polymerization in an alkalescent aqueous solution. However, shortcomings like low uniformity and lengthy reaction times discourage their large-scale implementations. In this work, we report a benign surface modification method for the highly effective, inexpensive construction of catechol (CA) coatings using sodium periodate (SP) as a trigger. Compared with recent progress in polyphenol coatings, our strategy achieved by far the fastest superhydrophilic modification rate ever reported. UV–vis spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and ellipsometry are used to gain insights into the reaction kinetics of oxidant-triggered polymerization and deposition of CA. SP-assisted CA films with good homogeneity were efficiently deposited on various dense and porous substrates. Ultimately, the unprecedentedly superhydrophilic/underwater superoleophobic coating layer was applied on the initially hydrophobic polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane, endowing the porous membrane with extremely high pure water permeability, favorable heavy metal adsorption ability, and outstanding oil/water separation performance. Due to the chemical versatility of CA, we envision that this novel coating technique holds significant potentials in tailoring the surface properties of different materials for a wide range of applications.

Modification of Nanofiber Support Layer for Thin Film Composite forward Osmosis Membranes via Layer-by-Layer Polyelectrolyte Deposition.

Electrospun nanofiber-supported thin film composite membranes are among the most promising membranes for seawater desalination via forward osmosis. In this study, a high-performance electrospun polyvinylidenefluoride (PVDF) nanofiber-supported thin film composite (TFC) membrane was successfully fabricated after molecular layer-by-layer polyelectrolyte deposition. Negatively-charged electrospun polyacrylic acid (PAA) nanofibers were deposited on electrospun PVDF nanofibers to form a support layer consisted of PVDF and PAA nanofibers. This resulted to a more hydrophilic support compared to the plain PVDF nanofiber support. The PVDF-PAA nanofiber support then underwent a layer-by-layer deposition of polyethylenimine (PEI) and PAA to form a polyelectrolyte layer on the nanofiber surface prior to interfacial polymerization, which forms the selective polyamide layer of TFC membranes. The resultant PVDF-LbL TFC membrane exhibited enhanced hydrophilicity and porosity, without sacrificing mechanical strength. As a result, it showed high pure water permeability and low structural parameter values of 4.12 L m−2 h−1 bar−1 and 221 µm, respectively, significantly better compared to commercial FO membrane. Layer-by-layer deposition of polyelectrolyte is therefore a useful and practical modification method for fabrication of high performance nanofiber-supported TFC membrane.

Efficient removal of As(III) by Cu nanoparticles intercalated in carbon nanotube membranes for drinking water treatment

Arsenic contamination is threatening drinking water safety in many areas around the world. Among different arsenic species in water, arsenite or As(III) is the most difficult one to remove due to its neutrality in drinking water. Therefore, development of novel materials is warranted for efficient As(III) removal. Herein, novel nanocomposite materials were facilely prepared by intercalating Cu nanoparticles into carboxylated/hydroxylated carbon nanotubes (CNT) deposited on top of a conventional polymeric membrane. The as-prepared membrane possessed high pure water permeability (4639–4854 L m−2 h−1 bar−1) and capability to remove more than 90% of As(III) at transmembrane pressures below 0.01 bar, which is plausible for gravity-driven membrane (GDM) filtration applications. Compared to Fe-based materials reported in the literature, the Cu/CNT nanocomposite membranes exhibited robustness in removing As(III) at a pH range of 5–9 and in the presence of chloride, nitrate, bicarbonate, sulfate and natural organic matter. A mechanical investigation suggests that the filtration process involves direct adsorption of As(III) onto Cu/CNT composites. As(V) species were also produced due to oxidation of As(III) by dissolved oxygen under the catalysis of Cu and adsorbed by Cu/CNT composites. Overall, the novel Cu/CNT nanocomposite membranes exhibit promising potentials in As(III) removal from contaminated water, and are worth of further investigation for their suitability in drinking water treatment.

Nano-porous SAPO-34 enhanced thin-film nanocomposite polymeric membrane: Simultaneously high water permeation and complete removal of cationic/anionic dyes from water

Thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes were prepared by embedding nano-porous SAPO-34 nanoparticles in a polypyrrole thin-film layer polymerized on PES substrate. SEM, EDX, AFM, hydrophilicity, zeta potential and MWCO measurements were applied to verify characteristics of membranes. TFN membranes presented considerably higher pure water permeability (by more than 300%) due to high hydrophilicity and also nano-channels created in thin-film. Performance of TFN membranes were also evaluated by removal of different anionic and cationic dyes (methyl violet 6B, reactive blue 4 and acid blue 193) from water. TFN membranes effectively removed 100% of all dyes from feed aqueous solutions with a low concentration (50 mg/l). Moreover, TFN membrane prepared with the highest amount of nano-filler presented an elevated water flux in filtration of solutions containing each dyes (e.g. more than 500% for reactive blue 4), a reduced flux decline ratio (36%) and also a higher flux recovery ratio (85%) in comparison with the pristine thin-film membrane, consequently indicating high performance of TFN membranes and potential of recovery just after a simple water washing. TFN membranes also revealed an efficient performance in filtration of high concentrations of dye solutions as well as in treatment of a real wastewater produced by a weaving company.

A novel γ-Al2O3 nanofiltration membrane via introducing hollow microspheres into interlayers for improving water permeability

Ceramic nanofiltration (NF) membranes with high resistance to harsh environments have been widely studied and applied in various fields, involving food, bioengineering and water purification. In this work, γ-Al2O3 hollow microspheres with mesoporous shell structures served as an interlayer on a high-flux α-Al2O3 hollow fiber microfiltration (MF) membrane to increase porosity and permeability. Here, the boehmite sol was made from the pseudo-boehmite precursor with a mild and environment friendly feature, instead of the conventional methods using aluminum alkoxides. The self-assembled microspheres (SAMs) mixture and boehmite sol were applied to make an interlayer and toplayer successively on α-Al2O3 substrates by dip-coating. Where, the SAMs constructed by poly-(styrene-acrylic acid) (PSA) microspheres and boehmite colloidal particles could stop the boehmite sol from permeating into inner pores of the support. Next, the composite membranes were calcined to remove organic components and finish the decomposition of the Al hydroxides at 600 °C for 2 h. The results show that the γ-Al2O3 composite NF membrane has a high pure water permeability of 26.4 L m−2 h−1 bar−1, with high retention rate for multivalent cations and low retention rate for monovalent cations, respectively, and the molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) of approximately 1500 Da.

Low-Pressure Nanofiltration Hollow Fiber Membranes for Effective Fractionation of Dyes and Inorganic Salts in Textile Wastewater.

In this work, novel loose nanofiltration (NF) hollow fiber membranes with ultrahigh water permeability and well-defined nanopore and surface charge characteristics were developed for effective fractionation of dyes and inorganic salts in textile wastewater treatment. The as-spun NF hollow fiber possesses a high pure water permeability (PWP) of 80 L·m-2·h-1·bar-1 with a small pore size of 1.0 nm in diameter and a MWCO of 1000 Da. The surface modification by means of hyperbranched polyethylenimine (PEI) further lowers the pore diameter to 0.85 nm and MWCO to 680 Da. The membrane surface also becomes more hydrophilic and positively charged after the PEI modification. Because of the synergistic effects from size exclusion and charge repulsion, the newly developed NF hollow fibers show high permeation fluxes of 7.0-71.2 L·m-2·h-1 and great rejections of 95.5-99.9% to various dyes at a low operating pressure of 1 bar. At the same time, they have ultralow rejections of less than 10% to inorganic salts (i.e., Na2SO4), suggesting that more than 90% of the salts would permeate through the fibers. In addition, the two hollow fibers exhibit outstanding performance stability, low fouling tendency, and great fouling reversibility. Their fluxes can be brought back to be more than 80% of the original values by a simple physical backwash. The newly developed loose NF hollow fiber membranes may have great potential for effective fractionation and treatment of textile wastewater.

Novel pore size tuning method for the fabrication of ceramic multi-channel nanofiltration membrane

A novel pore size tuning method was proposed for the fabrication of TiO2 multi-channel nanofiltration membrane from TiO2 ultrafiltration substrate using in situ chemical deposition. Titanium isopropoxide and isopropanol were employed as the precursor and solvent, respectively. The effects of solvent, precursor, pore size of ultrafiltration substrate, as well as thermal treatment temperature, on the performance of TiO2 multi-channel nanofiltration membrane were studied. The optimized TiO2 multi-channel nanofiltration membrane, prepared from ceramic ultrafiltration substrate with an MWCO of approximately 5 kDa, showed a high pure water permeability of approximately 20 L m−2 h−1 bar−1 and a low MWCO of approximately 800 Da. The average membrane pore radius was tuned from 2.4 nm to 0.9 nm. The TiO2 multi-channel nanofiltration membrane was successfully applied to the decolorization of sodium dehydroacetate. The decolorization rate was ~ 89.5%, and the sodium dehydroacetate recovery rate reached 98%, which is 2–3% higher than that obtained using the traditional activated carbon decolorization process. The in situ chemical deposition method has great potential as a novel and facile pore size tuning technique for ceramic ultrafiltration membrane for the fabrication of the ceramic multi-channel nanofiltration membranes, especially for large-scale production.

Graphene oxide (GO) laminar membranes for concentrating pharmaceuticals and food additives in organic solvents

An ultrathin graphene oxide (GO) laminar composite membrane has been fabricated in-house via pressure-assisted filtration. It has a relatively high pure water permeability (PWP) of 7.70 LMH/bar with a molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) of 1243 Da. When being treated with various solvents, the membrane exhibits good stability in both polar and nonpolar solvents. The GO laminar composite membrane has relatively high pure solvent fluxes of 24.89 Lm−2h−1, 7.95 Lm−2h−1 and 12.08 Lm−2h−1 for ethanol, isopropanol and hexane, respectively. Its rejections to orange II sodium salt, safranin O, solvent blue 35, rhodamine B and remazol brilliant blue are 56.60%, 86.52%, 4.39%, 66.95% and 97.11%, respectively. Experimental results suggest that the Donnan exclusion is less effective in organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN) than in aqueous systems, while the size exclusion and solute-membrane affinity are the dominant factors in determining separation performance. Some active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and food additives, e.g. tetracycline, rifampicin, roxithromycin, spiramycin, vitamin B12 and lecithin, are used to demonstrate the separation capability of the newly developed membrane in real-life applications. It can effectively retain those compounds with rejections of 65.80%, 82.67%, 84.27%, 92.21%, 95.34% and 98.44%, respectively. Several 7-day tests of vitamin B12 in isopropanol also confirm the membrane integrity and separation performance for continuous OSN uses.