Performance Of Nanofiltration Membranes Research Articles

Fouling of the Nanofiltration Membrane NF270 Used for Separation of Fermentation Broths: Impact of Feed Pretreatment Process

Recent findings regarding nanofiltration (NF) have led to indications that it can be successfully used for separation of various biological solutions. As a novelty, this paper is the first to investigate the impact of the feed pretreatment process on the NF membrane performance used for separation of 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PD) fermentation broths. For this purpose, prior to the NF process, the feed was purified by microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF) processes. Subsequently, the long-term NF process was carried out with the use of a commercial, flat-sheet, thin-film, polyamide NF270 nanofiltration membrane. Thereinto, to determine the dominant fouling mechanism, Hermia’s model was used. With regards to the pretreatment processes performed, it has been determined that the MF membrane (0.14 µm) provided the reduction in the number of bacteria cells present in the permeate, while the UF membrane (450 Da) allowed obtaining the sterile permeate. Consequently, the NF permeate flux for the UF permeate was significantly higher. Analysis of the fouling mechanisms showed that during the separation of the MF permeate, formation of a cake layer on the NF membrane surface was dominant. In turn, with regards to the UF permeate, membrane blocking occurred in two separate phases involving standard blocking and then cake layer formation. Finally, a strategy of NF membrane cleaning with the use of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution has been proposed.

Photo-Fenton reaction derived self-cleaning nanofiltration membrane with MOFs coordinated biopolymers for efficient dye/salt separation

Membrane technology has been widely used in textile industry for the separation of dye/salt mixtures. However, membranes inevitably suffered from the fouling issue, which greatly abated the water permeability and reduced the separation efficiency of membranes. Herein, a novel thin film nanocomposite (TFN) nanofiltration (NF) membrane was prepared by introducing photocatalytic sensitive material into the selective layer to directly degrade the foulants on the membrane surface. This functional selective layer was achieved by a complexation of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and MIL-53 (Fe), which greatly enhanced the self-cleaning ability of the TFN membrane while MIL-53 (Fe) was served as nanofiller and photocatalyst simultaneously. The optimized TFN NF membrane modified with 0.5 mg CMC and 0.075 mg MIL-53 (Fe) exhibited a high pure water permeability of 39.83 L m−2 h−1 bar−1, while maintaining high dye rejections above 99.00 % for CR, G250 and MB. Meanwhile, the obtained membrane exhibited impressive rejections of salts (61.49 % for Na2SO4 and 17.22 % for NaCl). This simple fabrication strategy provided new insights to augment the separation performance of TFN NF membrane with self-cleaning ability in organic separation systems.

Landfill leachate pretreatment effects on nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membrane performance

The present study investigates the effects of landfill leachate pretreatment by coagulation-flocculation (C/F) on the performance of nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes by comparing permeate flux, fouling resistance, and leachate quality. Pretreated leachates were produced by applying the C/F with ferric chloride (FeCl3) and alum sulfate (Al2(SO4)3), named P1 and P2 leachates. Raw leachate (RL), P1, and P2 samples were treated using five different polymeric membranes termed NP030, NP010, XN45, BW30, and X201. The C/F pretreatment with FeCl3 or Al2(SO4)3 increased XN45's permeate flux by more than 80%. In this case, fouling median resistance values were 2.13e+ 08, 0.96e+ 08, and 1.02e+ 08 m−1 for RL, P1, and P2, respectively. Kruskal-Wallis test showed a significant difference between RL and pretreated leachate groups (p-value < 0.05). No significant difference between P1 and P2 was identified by the Dwass-Steel-Critchlow-Fligner test run for pairwise comparisons. These results indicate that the leachate pretreatment reduced membrane fouling by more than 50%, independently of the coagulant employed. Although higher removals of organic contaminants were, on average, obtained by membrane treatment for RL than for P1 and P2 samples, membranes that operated for RL treatment presented the worst performance in terms of permeate flux and fouling resistance. Therefore, NF and RO processes are not advisable as a single step in a landfill leachate treatment train, and a pretreatment step is recommended. This research makes a major contribution to the field by providing quantitative data for the conceptual premise that leachate pretreatments mitigate membrane fouling. Our findings help elucidate pretreatment effects on membrane performance and determine the preferable leachate treatment layout.

Nanofoaming by surfactant tunes morphology and performance of polyamide nanofiltration membrane

Fabricating nanofiltration (NF) membrane with a crumpled structure is promising for improving water permeance without compromising selectivity. Nanobubbles, which are in-situ produced during the interfacial polymerization (IP) of m-phenylenediamine (MPD)/trimesoyl chloride (TMC) system, enabled templating the “ridge-and-valley” structure of thin-film composite (TFC) reverse osmosis (RO) polyamide (PA) membranes. However, the templating effect of nanobubbles in NF PA membrane fabrication is rarely aware in the literature. Herein, we used a surfactant [sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS)] for reducing the interfacial tension and foaming, which enabled introducing additional nanobubbles into the piperazine (PIP)/TMC system. This would ensure that there are adequate amounts of nanobubbles to shape the PA structure, facilitating the encapsulation of nanobubbles between the PA layer and the substrate to form a bubble-like crumpled structure. The bubble-like crumpled structure increased the specific surface area and nanovoids of PA layer, beneficial for the improvement of membrane water permeance. In the presence of SDBS, the elimination of nanobubbles could change the crumpled structure to a smooth surface, while the enhancement of nanobubbles enabled more intensified crumpled structures. Our study provided a new dimension to manipulate the nanoscale structure of the PA layer of TFC NF membranes.

Nanofiltration for treatment of Western Australian bore water for mineral processing operations: A pilot scale study

Limited freshwater availability, increasing competition for water among multiple users, cost of purification, corporate sustainability goals, etc., are the main factors driving many industries to focus on water quality and usage. Increasing water reuse and accessing alternative sources of freshwater are potential strategies to improve water efficiency. This paper aims to identify water treatment options that produce suitable water for flotation and other mineral processing operations. It investigates the performance of nanofiltration membranes in producing suitable water quality for the separation of minerals based on the ionic strength tolerance threshold at which impurities begin to impact the separation process. In this study, the membranes used could reject >95 % of divalent cations (such as Ca2+ and Mg2+) and >74 % of monovalent ions (e.g., Na+ and Cl−) under the conditions of 12 bar of transmembrane pressure and 65 % of the recovery. These rejection rates were found to be sufficient to produce fit-for-purpose water for mineral processing. In addition, the effect of pressure on the mass transfer mechanism of each membrane was determined.

Brackish water treatment by Ceramic TiO2 Low-Pressure Nanofiltration Membranes

&lt;p&gt;The application of ceramic Nanofiltration (NF) membrane in brackish water treatment is increasing due to strict water quality standards. Ceramic NF is a widely used membrane process and has replaced reverse osmosis (RO) membranes in many applications due to lower energy consumption and higher flux rates. This work aims to study the separation performance of tubular ceramic TiO2 Nanofiltration membrane at low-pressure (2 bar) for single and tertiary salt mixture separation. The results showed that the rejection of ions is ordered as follows: R (Cl1-) ion size &amp;gt; R calcium (Ca2+) ion size &amp;gt; R sodium (Na1+) ion size &amp;gt; R magnesium (Mg2+) ion size. Moreover, the highest Cl1- rejection was about 46%, the highest Ca2+ and Mg2+ rejection was about 44%, and the highest Na1+ rejection was about 37%. The pure water flux through the investigated ceramic NF membrane for distilled water was calculated to be 5.29 x 10-7 m3 s-1 m-2 bar-1, and this flux was dropped down for the salt mixture feed to 2.56 x 10-7 m3 s-1 m-2 bar-1 due to the presence of salt particles in the feed.&lt;/p&gt;&#x0D;

Effect of activated carbon nanoparticles on the performance of PES nanofiltration membranes to separate kraft lignin from black liquor

In this work, activated carbon nanoparticles (AC) at concentrations ranging from 0 to 1 wt% were used to prepare polyethersulfone nanofiltration membranes. The effectiveness of these membranes in separating lignin from black liquor (BL) was evaluated under various operating conditions. The addition of AC improved all desirable properties. For instance, water permeability was increased by 57.50 % with the addition of 1 % AC and surface hydrophilicity was improved by reducing the contact angle from 66.8° to 55.2° for 0.5 % AC-based membranes compared to simple polymeric membranes. For BL filtration, 0.1 % AC-based membranes offered the highest flux with an improvement of 120 % at 24 bar and high lignin rejection compared to simple polymeric membranes. In addition, these membranes exhibited the highest water permeability recovery of 98.02 % when used for BL filtration followed by cleaning. During optimization tests of the main operating variables (temperature, pressure and pH) using 0.1 % AC-based membranes, it was found that extremely high conditions for each variable resulted in decreased performance in terms of fouling and lignin rejection. The best performance of these membranes in terms of flux, lignin rejection and fouling resistance was observed around 40 °C, 20 bar and 11.5 pH within the studied range. In this study, a new application for AC-based NF membranes was established for the separation of lignin from BL. The results of this study also showed that under optimal conditions, the performance of AC-based (0.1 %) membranes was improved for the efficient separation of lignin from BL with lower membrane fouling.

Influence of colloidal iron oxide and natural organic matter fouling on nanofiltration membrane performance: role of feed composition and membrane properties

Iron oxide colloids and natural organic matter in the presence of divalent cations cause irreversible fouling for commonly used drinking water nanofiltration membranes.

Performance of polymeric nanofiltration membranes for non-aqueous systems: experimental results and modeling

Performance of polymeric nanofiltration membranes for non-aqueous systems: experimental results and modeling

Enhancing the desalination performance of polyamide nanofiltration membranes via in-situ incorporation of zwitterionic nanohydrogel

Designing a nanofiltration (NF) membrane with distinguished high permeability and ion selectivity is attractive for handling hypersaline wastewater. In this work, we used zwitterionic nanogels (ZNGs) as aqueous additives to prepare NF membranes by interfacial polymerization (IP), and comprehensively investigated the chemical composition of the nanogels on the performance of NF membranes. The outcome of characterizations demonstrated that the nanogels mainly exist as an interlayer between the polyethersulfone (PES) substrate and polyamide (PA) layer, which elevated the hydrophilicity and electronegativity of the membrane surface. In addition, due to the stronger steric hindrance, electrostatic interaction and interlayer-promoted gutter effect, the optimized NF membrane prepared with the addition of 0.015 wt% amine functionalized PSB (SBMA-AH) in aqueous solution exhibited an exceptional water permeability of 20.6 L m−2 h−1 bar−1 and high Na2SO4 rejection of up to 99.5 %, as well as high selectivity of 160.1 for separating Cl−/SO42−. The membrane also displayed superior performance stability under different salt concentrations and pressures. The outstanding desalination performance of the as-prepared NF membrane enables it a promising candidate for hypersaline wastewater treatment.

Improving Mg2+/Li+ separation performance of polyamide nanofiltration membrane by swelling-embedding-shrinking strategy

Extraction of lithium from salt lakes is an important route for lithium sources. Due to the unique structure and separation mechanism, i.e., size exclusion and Donnan effect, nanofiltration (NF) is considered as a promising way to separate magnesium (Mg2+) and lithium (Li+) ions. However, the Mg2+/Li+ separation factor of NF membrane fabricated by traditional interfacial polymerization (IP) is usually dissatisfactory. Here, a swelling-embedding-shrinking strategy was proposed to modify polyethyleneimine (PEI)/trimesoyl chloride (TMC) NF membranes using diethylenetriamine (DETA) to improve the performance in Mg2+/Li+ separation. The pristine PEI/TMC NF membrane was swollen with methanol to increase the polyamide chain spacing followed by embedding electropositive DETA as a modifier. The charge properties and pore structure of the active layer could be regulated by optimizing the modification conditions. Within comparison to the pristine membrane (TFC-0), the pure water flux of modified NF membrane (TFC-3) increased by 63.6% because of the rougher surface and the larger pore size. Meanwhile, the embedding of electropositive DETA reduced the electronegative property of membrane surface. In consequence, TFC-3 membrane exhibited higher rejection of MgCl2 (93.9% against 88.4%) and lower rejection of LiCl (31.0% against 32.1%), thus showing a twofold improvement in Mg2+/Li+ separation factor (SLi, Mg = 11.38 against 5.87). The swelling-embedding-shrinking strategy in this article provided a good reference for the modification of NF membranes in the separation of multivalent and monovalent ions.

An Overview of the Modification Strategies in Developing Antifouling Nanofiltration Membranes.

Freshwater deficiency has become a significant issue affecting many nations' social and economic development because of the fast-growing demand for water resources. Nanofiltration (NF) is one of the promising technologies for water reclamation application, particularly in desalination, water, and wastewater treatment fields. Nevertheless, membrane fouling remains a significant concern since it can reduce the NF membrane performance and increase operating expenses. Consequently, numerous studies have focused on improving the NF membrane's resistance to fouling. This review highlights the recent progress in NF modification strategies using three types of antifouling modifiers, i.e., nanoparticles, polymers, and composite polymer/nanoparticles. The correlation between antifouling performance and membrane properties such as hydrophilicity, surface chemistry, surface charge, and morphology are discussed. The challenges and perspectives regarding antifouling modifiers and modification strategies conclude this review.

Fabrication of high-performance mixed matrix blend membranes comprising PES and TPU reinforced with APTS functionalized-graphene oxide via VIPS-NIPS technique for aqueous dye treatment and antifouling properties

BackgroundIn recent decades, the preparation and design of nanofiltration (NF) membranes were significantly progressed for dye rejection application in various industries, such as the textile industry. Moreover, it is well-known that the membrane antifouling property is another factor that is very important in evaluating NF membrane performance. MethodsIn this article, some NF membranes have been fabricated by the incorporation of various amounts of polyethersulfone (PES), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), and APTS functionalized-graphene oxide (GO-APTS) nanosheets. The GO-APTS nanosheets has been prepared utilizing the improved hummer's procedure for the fabrication of graphene oxide (GO), followed by adding (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTS). The mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) have been generated via the VIPS-NIPS procedure to enhance the removal performance of the prepared membranes. Tensile analyses data exhibited that TPU blending and GO-APTS embedding into the PES improve the tensile strength and elongation at break of the prepared membranes. Significant FindingsThe dye removal ability of the membranes has been studied in terms of removing methylene blue (MB), crystal violet (CV), methyl green (MG), and direct yellow 29 (DY-29). It is worth pointing out that due to the superior permeation (5.08 L/m2.h.bar) along with the outstanding separation ability (97.3%, 98.1%, 98.7%, and 99.4% for MB, CV, MG, and DY-29, respectively), the optimized nanoparticle-containing membrane (M7) was selected as the excellent membrane in dye separation. Suitable hydrophilicity of TPU and GO-APTS also turned the M7 membrane into a membrane with high resistance against fouling, so the FRR and Rt values reached 92.9% and 53.2%, respectively.

Evaluation of Commercial Reverse Osmosis and Nanofiltration Membranes for the Removal of Heavy Metals from Surface Water in the Democratic Republic of Congo

This study evaluates the performance of commercial reverse osmosis (RO) and nanofiltration (NF) membranes for the removal of metal ions from synthetic water and surface water carried from the north-west of Lake Tanganyika in the city of Uvira, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Metal ion analyses were performed by the standardized ICP-MS and ICP-OES methods. The RO membrane showed higher metal ion rejection in high-concentration solutions (synthetic samples) prepared in the laboratory as well as in low-concentration samples from real raw water collected near Lake Tanganyika. Rejection levels were higher than 98% for Cr3+, Pb2+, Cd2+, As3+, Ni2+, and Sb+3 ions in the synthetic solutions, and 99.2, 98.8, 98.6, 99.2, 98.4, and 98.8%, respectively, in the real samples. The concentrations of metals in the permeate varied depending on the feed concentration and were 0.15 to 1.02 mg/L, 0.33 to 22 mg/L, and 0.11 to 22 mg/L in RO, NF90, and NF270 membranes, respectively. Regarding the NF membranes, the rejection of Cr, Ni, and Cd ions was interesting: 98.2, 97.8, and 92.3%, respectively. However, it was lower for Pb, As, and Sb ions: 76.9, 52.5 and 64.1%, respectively. The flux of NF was 329 to 375 L/m2.h, much higher than for RO membranes, which had a flux of 98 to 132 L/m2.h. The studied membranes are thus a feasible solution to remove the studied metals from real water sources at low concentrations since they meet the standards of the World Health Organization on specific values assigned to chemicals from industrial sources and human habitation areas where these ions are present in drinking water.

Pressure-driven membrane nutrient preconcentration for down-stream electrochemical struvite recovery

Nutrient recovery from wastewater is a sustainable solution to combat the harmful release of nutrients to the environment. Here, we investigate nutrient recovery from wastewater by pre-concentration of wastewater nutrients using pressure-driven membranes prior to downstream electrochemical nutrient precipitation. When using electrochemical struvite precipitation, a higher nutrient concentration leads to a higher precipitation efficiency. Therefore, we investigate the performance of commercial nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes with different polymer chemistry and molecular weight cut-offs (MWCO) and discuss the membrane selection based on design goals and wastewater compositions for maximum nutrient recovery efficiency. Our results indicated that the Alfa membrane, a polyamide thin film composite (PA-TFC) NF membrane with 300 Da MWCO has the highest concentration factor in phosphorus (P) preconcentration among all the membranes studied due to the high flux and removal efficiency. BW30LE (PA-TFC, 100 Da), Synder (PA-TFC, 100–250 Da) and NF90 (PA-TFC, 200–400 Da) achieved a high concentration factor for nitrogen (N) recovery. NF90 and Synder NF membranes are able to achieve a nitrogen concentration factor similar to BW30LE RO membrane at much lower energy consumption. A multistage membrane system design is suggested using the selected membranes for effective nutrient recovery. Life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted to characterize the environmental impact of the multistage membrane nutrient recovery system. Among the different process configurations of the selected membranes, key trends included: 1) environmental impacts across most categories increased as the number of membranes increased, and 2) as the amount of fertilizer substitute that could be produced in a given configuration increased, total environmental impacts decreased with some exceptions.

Utilization of carboxyl group-grafted molybdenum disulfide for enhancing the performance of thin-film nanocomposite nanofiltration membranes

The incompatibility between inorganic nanoparticles and polyamide matrix in thin film nanocomposite (TFN) nanofiltration membranes tends to generate defects in the selective layer and further sacrifice the membrane separation performance, which can be promisingly mitigated by modifying nanoparticles with hydrophilic functional groups. In this study, carboxyl group-grafted molybdenum disulfide (COOH-MoS2) nanoparticles were prepared via organic functionalization grafting reaction and then incorporated into membrane polyamide layers. The resultant TFN membranes exhibited a rougher surface with unique globule structures, which greatly contributed to the enhancement of water permeance. The optimal membrane obtained at the COOH-MoS2 depositing density of 50.0 μg/cm2 exhibited a high Na2SO4 rejection of 98.5 %, a low NaCl rejection of 23.8 %, and an excellent water permeance of 27.7 LMH/bar, which was 2.8 and 1.5 times higher than that of the control membrane (9.6 LMH/bar) and the original MoS2 modified TFN membrane (18.4 LMH/bar), respectively. The more superior membrane performance enabled by COOH-MoS2 was mainly due to the enhanced hydrophilicity of the nanoparticles, which effectively inhibited the piperazine monomer diffusion and resulted a thinner and properly looser selective layer. This work provides an effective strategy to improve the performance of TFN nanofiltration membranes via graft of proper functional groups on nanomaterials.

Novel macrocyclic polyamines regulated nanofiltration membranes: Towards efficient micropollutants removal and molecular separation

The discharge of wastewater containing organic micropollutants not only causes severe environmental pollution, but also exacerbates the scarcity of freshwater resources and poses a serious threat to human health. The nanofiltration (NF) membrane has unique advantages and obvious energy-saving effects in the demineralization of organic micropollutants. Poly(piperazine) amide NF membrane exhibits the poor organic micropollutants/salt selectivity and low water permeance. Therefore, developing a novel NF membrane with high water permeance and superior selectivity is of significance. In this study, a loose nanofiltration (LNF) membrane is fabricated by interfacial polymerization with 1, 4, 7, 10-tetraazacyclododecane (Cyclen) as a new aqueous phase monomer to modulate the polyamide microstructure. The steric structure of Cyclen is larger than that of PIP, and the steric hindrance increases, resulting in a low stacking density of the formed polyamide polymer. Compared with the PIP-based NF membrane, the fabricated Cyclen-TMC LNF membrane has a smoother surface, a higher density of carboxyl groups, and a lower degree of cross-linking. The Cyclen-TMC membrane exhibits the considerable water permeance, with the corresponding rejection of 99.9% and 92.7% for methyl blue and tetracycline (pH = 9), respectively, while maintaining a low rejection for monovalent salts (e.g., 4.5% for NaCl). Furthermore, the LNF membrane shows a superior anti-fouling performance with the relatively smooth, highly negatively charged surface and low operation pressure. The novel LNF membrane exhibits a high potential for textile and pharmaceutical wastewater treatment. This study provides a new candidate to regulate the separation performance of NF membranes using new aqueous monomers.

Boosting the Performance of Nanofiltration Membranes in Removing Organic Micropollutants: Trade-Off Effect, Strategy Evaluation, and Prospective Development.

In view of the high risks brought about by organic micropollutants (OMPs), nanofiltration (NF) processes have been playing a vital role in advanced water and wastewater treatment, owing to the high membrane performance in rejection of OMPs, permeation of water, and passage of mineral salts. Though numerous studies have been devoted to evaluating and technically enhancing membrane performance in removing various OMPs, the trade-off effect between water permeance and water/OMP selectivity for state-of-the-art membranes remains far from being understood. Knowledge of this effect is significant for comparing and guiding membrane development works toward cost-efficient OMP removal. In this work, we comprehensively assessed the performance of 88 NF membranes, commercialized or newly developed, based on their water permeance and OMP rejection data published in the literature. The effectiveness and underlying mechanisms of various modification methods in tailoring properties and in turn performance of the mainstream polyamide (PA) thin-film composite (TFC) membranes were quantitatively analyzed. The trade-off effect was demonstrated by the abundant data from both experimental measurements and machine learning-based prediction. On this basis, the advancement of novel membranes was benchmarked by the performance upper-bound revealed by commercial membranes and lab-made PA membranes. We also assessed the potentials of current NF membranes in selectively separating OMPs from inorganic salts and identified the future research perspectives to achieve further enhancement in OMP removal and salt/OMP selectivity of NF membranes.

Enhancing the permeability, anti-biofouling performance and long-term stability of TFC nanofiltration membrane by imidazole-modified carboxylated graphene oxide/polyethersulfone substrate

In this study, we attempt to enhance the permeability, biofouling resistance, and long-term stability of thin-film composite (TFC) nanofiltration membrane by tailoring the substrate membrane. Firstly, an imidazole-modified carboxylated graphene oxide (Im-CGO) with improved antibacterial property was synthesized. Next, the imidazole-modified carboxylated graphene oxide/polyethersulfone (Im-CGO/PES) ultrafiltration membrane was fabricated, and the corresponding TFC nanofiltration membrane was obtained based on the Im-CGO/PES substrate by interfacial polymerization. The pore structures, surface hydrophilicity, and permeability of Im-CGO/PES substrate membrane are improved by the introduction of membrane modifier (Im-CGO). Significantly, the water permeability of Im-CGO/PES based TFC membrane is greatly enhanced. The pure water flux of NF-0.5 membrane is 69.8 L m-2 h-1 at 0.6 MPa, and which is 80.8% higher than that of NF-0 membrane. The corresponding anti-biofouling test results suggest that Im-CGO/PES based TFC membrane possesses good anti-biofouling performance owing to the great increased surface hydrophilicity and a large number of antibacterial imidazole groups in substrate membrane. Furthermore, the long-term stability of Im-CGO/PES based TFC membrane is also enhanced compared to the PES based TFC membrane, attributing to the covalent connection between polyamide layer and Im-CGO/PES substrate.

Triethanolamine-modulated interfacial polymerization toward microcrumpled nanofiltration membranes: Performances and mechanisms

Highly permeable thin-film composite (TFC) nanofiltration (NF) membranes featuring high separation efficiencies are of great importance for purifying surface water and ground water. Increasing the filtration area of NF membranes via accurate control of the interfacial polymerization (IP) is proposed to be an efficient way to achieve this goal. In this work, a triethanolamine (TEOA)-modulated IP was utilized to tailor the IP reaction rate and thus regulate the separation performance of NF membranes. The resultant NF membranes were characterized in terms of chemical structures, morphologies, and separation behaviors in detail. The reaction dynamic of the TEOA-doped IP was evaluated by stopped-flow spectroscopy and molecular dynamics. The results showed that the incorporation of TEOA could efficiently regulate the IP reaction rate through hydrogen bonds, increased viscosity, and acid-neutralization effects. As result, a high-performance NF membrane possessing a microcrumpled structure and excellent separation efficiency for ground water was achieved. Hence, the TEOA-modulated IP method is expected to be a maneuverable approach for tailoring excellent NF membranes for ground water treatments.