Preparation Of Thin Film Composite Membranes Research Articles

Effect of surface hydroxyl group density of support membrane on water permeance of polyamide thin-film composite membrane

Polyamide-based thin-film composite (TFC) membranes are widely used in water treatment processes. Recently, the influence of support membranes on the performance of polyamide layers has garnered considerable attention. Regarding the chemical properties of the support membranes, the surface wettability and the interaction between the amine monomer used for interfacial polymerization and the membrane surface are considered to play crucial roles. In this study, we investigated the effect of the wettability of the support membrane surface and its interaction with the amine monomer on the water permeance of TFC membranes. We prepared TFC membranes on polyketone support membranes with varying surface hydroxyl group densities and aqueous solution wettabilities. While no clear correlation was observed between the support membrane's wettability and the water permeance of the TFC membrane, an increase in hydroxyl group density did result in higher water permeance. The hydroxyl groups interact with PIP, inhibiting PIP diffusion and potentially leading to the formation of a thinner polyamide layer, which enhances water permeance. Therefore, the interaction between the amine monomer and support membrane surface strongly affects the formation of the polyamide layer.

Chitosan-furosemide/pectin surface functionalized thin film nanofiltration membrane with improved antifouling behavior for pharmaceutical wastewater treatment

A high-performance thin film composite (TFC) nanofiltration (NF) membrane was prepared by the furosemide-modified chitosan (CS@FS) composite assisted pectin (PC) functionalization of the polyethersulfone (PES) NF membrane for antibiotic removal and pharmaceutical wastewater treatment. Analyses by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) confirmed successful modification of CS. The effect of CS@FS-co-PC on physicochemical characteristics and separation performance of the prepared membrane was studied. The CS@FS-co-PC TFC membranes indicated a smoother surface with decreased water contact angle. Upon introduction of CS@FS-co-PC with 0.5 wt.% CS@FS on the membrane surface, the resultant TFC membrane (TFC-0.5) achieved pure water flux (PWF) of 47.8 L/m2h, high flux recovery ratio (FRR) of 94.2%, and irreversible fouling ratio (DRir) of 5.8%. All prepared TFC membranes showed more than 91% rejection for both studied antibiotics. In the optimized conditions, ceftriaxone (CRO) and cefixime (CFM) rejections using TFC-0.5 membrane were 99.9 and 99.7%, respectively. Moreover, the CS@FS-co-PC TFC NF membranes show outstanding separation performance for pharmaceutical wastewater treatment (COD removal efficiency of 92.0%±1.1, TDS removal of 56.1 ± 1.0%, and complete turbidity removal). The present study aimed to prepare a TFC membrane that can indicate high antibiotic rejection and resistance to fouling for pharmaceutical wastewater treatment applications.

Preparation of thin-film composite membrane with Turing structure by PEO-assisted interfacial polymerization combined with choline chloride modification to improve permeability

BackgroundThe speed of the interfacial polymerization reaction is considered to be the decisive factor for the thickness and surface morphology of the polyamide layer. The reaction rate can be controlled by controlling the diffusion rate of the aqueous monomer. MethodsHere, firstly, polyethylene oxide was added into the aqueous solution to increase the viscosity of the aqueous phase to reduce the reaction rate. Then choline chloride (CC) was grafted on the surface of the nascent polyamide membrane by a surface grafting method for secondary modification. A polyamide nanofiltration membrane with a special Turing structure was prepared on the surface of polyethersulfone support membrane. The desalination performance of composite membrane was investigated. Significant findingsThe results showed that the addition of PEO resulted in the regular Turing structure on the surface of the composite membrane. When the addition amount reached 1%, the performance of the composite membrane was the best. After the secondary modification of CC, the rejection rate of Na2SO4 was more than 96%, and the permeation flux could reach 125.9 L/(m2·h·MPa). It is expected to be applied in the fields of seawater desalination and sewage purification.

Heterogeneous polyamide composite membranes based on aromatic poly(amidoamine) dendrimer for molecular sieving

Membrane separation technologies featuring environmentally friendly and highly efficient processes have been widely adopted for sustainable development. Non-linear macromolecules, represented by aromatic poly(amidoamine) dendrimers (ArPD), have good potential for increasing the porosity of the active layer in thin-film composite (TFC) membranes. However, they are often difficult to use as the sole monomer in interfacial polymerization to prepare membranes with high separation accuracy. Herein, the DMF/H2O system was determined to resolve the problem of ArPD dissolution, and the behavioral differences of ArPD for different generations in film-forming were then elucidated. For G4 (the fourth generation of ArPD) -TMC (trimesoyl chloride) membranes, the good sieving performance is attributed to the relatively dense polyamide networks from interfacial polymerization, and the continuous pore channels from the tightly packed macromolecules. Therefore, the final polyamide layer shows significant heterogeneity. Moreover, a “patching” strategy was employed to further improve the separation performance. The ArPD-based membranes exhibit about 3 times higher permeance than MPD (m-phenylenediamine)-based membranes under the comparable NaCl rejection. For the repaired membrane, the water permeance reaches 3.2 L m−2 h−1 bar−1 with the NaCl rejection of about 94.9%, which is advantageous compared with reported macromolecule-based membranes. The repaired membrane also shows excellent performance in the removal of small organics in organic solvent system. For example, the methanol permeance achieves 1.5 L m−2 h−1 bar−1 with the rejection to potassium cinnamate (186.25 g mol−1) about 90.3%. This work provides a typical paradigm for the application of macromolecules in the preparation of TFC membranes.

The construction of an efficient magnesium-lithium separation thin film composite membrane with dual aqueous-phase monomers (PIP and MPD).

A series of thin film composite (TFC) membranes was prepared with piperazine (PIP) and m-phenylenediamine (MPD) in different ratios, and the magnesium-lithium separation performance of TFC membranes in salt-lake brine with the magnesium-lithium ratio of 28 were systematically compared. The prepared TFC membranes exhibited high rejection of magnesium ions and negative rejection of lithium ions with high water flux, enabling high magnesium-lithium separation efficiency. The characterisation using FTIR spectroscopy, XPS, zeta potential measurements, and SEM techniques indicated that the composition and surface morphology of the membrane prepared with dual aqueous monomers were found to be different from those prepared with single aqueous monomers under the similar conditions. The interfacial polymerization process of different monomers and the structure-performance mechanism of TFC membranes were further discussed.

Preparation of thin-film composite membranes with ultrahigh MOFs loading through polymer-template MOFs induction secondary interfacial polymerization

Thin-film composite metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) membranes (TFCMMs) have huge potential to achieve good selectivity and high permeance in gas separation due to the ultrathin thickness of separation layer and the excellent properties of MOFs. In this work, we reported a TFCMMs with ultrahigh MOF loading and dense membrane structure through polymer-template MOFs induction secondary interfacial polymerization. The polymer-template ZIF-8 (BZIF-8) was prepared by branched polyethylenimine in-situ modified, which was post-doped in nascent polyamide (PA) layer in order to avoid defects of interfacial polymerization through in-situ doping. Under the effect of gravity, BZIF-8 could be embedded into the uncured nascent PA layer locally, resulting in the formation of dense TFCMMs with ultrahigh MOF loading up to 73.73 wt%. And BZIF-8 had rich grafted polymer fragment, which could improve interface compatibility and enhance structure-crosslinking of membranes by secondary interfacial polymerization between amino groups on the BZIF-8 and residual acyl-chloride groups on the nascent PA layer, realizing the regulation of membranes structure. The prepared membrane showed mixed N2 permeance of 5160 GPU with N2/CH4 selectivity of 7.38 and mixed CO2 permeance of 14588.23 GPU with CO2/CH4 selectivity of 23.1, which had high potential for CH4 purification.

Thin Film Composite Membranes Based on the Polymer of Intrinsic Microporosity PIM-EA(Me2)-TB Blended with Matrimid®5218.

In this work, thin film composite (TFC) membranes were fabricated with the selective layer based on a blend of polyimide Matrimid®5218 and polymer of intrinsic microporosity (PIM) composed of Tröger’s base, TB, and dimethylethanoanthracene units, PIM-EA(Me2)-TB. The TFCs were prepared with different ratios of the two polymers and the effect of the PIM content in the blend of the gas transport properties was studied for pure He, H2, O2, N2, CH4, and CO2 using the well-known time lag method. The prepared TFC membranes were further characterized by IR spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The role of the support properties for the TFC membrane preparation was analysed for four different commercial porous supports (Nanostone Water PV 350, Vladipor Fluoroplast 50, Synder PAN 30 kDa, and Sulzer PAN UF). The Sulzer PAN UF support with a relatively small pore size favoured the formation of a defect-free dense layer. All the TFC membranes supported on Sulzer PAN UF presented a synergistic enhancement in CO2 permeance, and CO2/CH4 and CO2/N2 ideal selectivity. The permeance increased about two orders of magnitude with respect to neat Matrimid, up to ca. 100 GPU, the ideal CO2/CH4 selectivity increased from approximately 10 to 14, and the CO2/N2 selectivity from approximately 20 to 26 compared to the thick dense reference membrane of PIM-EA(Me2)-TB. The TFC membranes exhibited lower CO2 permeances than expected on the basis of their thickness—most likely due to enhanced aging of thin films and to the low surface porosity of the support membrane, but a higher selectivity for the gas pairs CO2/N2, CO2/CH4, O2/N2, and H2/N2.

Effect of polymer substrate on the performance of thin-film composite nanofiltration membranes

Nanofiltration (NF) can be classified as a separation membrane-based process that falls between the standards of ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis processes in the matter of rejected particles size and ionic species. This process could be utilized when a substantial removal of sodium ions is unnecessary, but divalent ions, such as Mg and Ca, elimination is the goal. In this research, thin-film composite (TFC) membranes were prepared on different polymeric substrates, namely: polysulfone (PSU), polyethersulfone, and polyacrylonitrile. Furthermore, their performance for salts removal by the NF was tested. Multiple examination methods were employed to characterize the films and investigate their physicochemical specifications, including scanning electron microscope, atomic force microscopy, and contact angle. Results showed that PSU-supported TFC membranes exhibited the best NF performance in terms of CaCl2 rejection, while all the prepared membranes showed low NaCl salt rejection. These results confirm the nanofiltration nature of the prepared TFC membranes and the impact of the support layers on the TFC performance.

Synthesis and characterization of novel thin film composite forward osmosis membrane using charcoal-based carbon nanomaterials for desalination application

In this study, charcoal-based carbon nanomaterial (CNM) was used to modify thin film composite (TFC) membranes for forward osmosis (FO) process. Different amounts of CNM were incorporated into polyethersulfone (PES) and the effects of CNM addition on hydrophilicity, roughness, and morphology of the prepared substrates were investigated. To fabricate the TFC-FO membranes, m-phenylenediamine (MPD) and trimesoyl chloride (TMC) were used for polyamide (PA) layer formation on the substrate surface. FO performance of the prepared TFC membranes was evaluated in both FO and pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) modes using deionized (DI) water as feed solution (FS) and 1 M NaCl solution as draw solution (DS). Also, to study the TFC membranes capability for desalination purposes, the Caspian Seawater was used as FS. It was found that incorporation of CNM into the TFC membrane substrate leads to the reduced structural parameter (S), significantly. The membrane containing 0.5 wt% CNM showed the best performance with water flux of 12.08 and 32.25 L.m−2.h−1 (LMH) in FO and PRO modes, respectively (approximately 3 times higher than that for the neat membrane). Also, Js/Jw value significantly reduced from 1.40 to 0.25 g/L. This research demonstrated that charcoal-based CNM is a proper candidate for modification of the TFC-FO membranes to achieve high water flux and selectivity.

Preparation of thin-film composite membranes supported with electrospun nanofibers for desalination by forward osmosis

Abstract. The forward osmosis (FO) process has been considered to be a viable option for water desalination in comparison to the traditional processes like reverse osmosis, regarding energy consumption and economical operation. In this work, a polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofiber support layer was prepared using the electrospinning process as a modern method. Then, an interfacial polymerization reaction between m-phenylenediamine (MPD) and trimesoyl chloride (TMC) was carried out to generate a polyamide selective thin-film composite (TFC) membrane on the support layer. The TFC membrane was tested in FO mode (feed solution facing the active layer) using the standard methodology and compared to a commercially available cellulose triacetate membrane (CTA). The synthesized membrane showed a high performance in terms of water flux (16 Lm −2 h−1) but traded the salt rejection (4 gm−2 h−1) compared with the commercial CTA membrane (water flux = 13 Lm−2 h−1 and salt rejection = 3 gm−2 h−1) at no applied pressure and room temperature. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), contact angle, mechanical properties, porosity, and performance characterizations were conducted to examine the membrane.

Surface Properties, Free Volume, and Performance for Thin-Film Composite Pervaporation Membranes Fabricated through Interfacial Polymerization Involving Different Organic Solvents.

The type of organic solvents used in interfacial polymerization affects the surface property, free volume, and separation performance of the thin-film composite (TFC) polyamide membrane. In this study, TFC polyamide membrane was fabricated through interfacial polymerization between diethylenetriamine (DETA) and trimesoyl chloride (TMC). Four types of organic solvent were explored in the preparation of pervaporation membrane. These are tetralin, toluene, hexane, and isopentane. The solubility parameter distance between organic solvents and DETA follows in increasing order: tetralin (17.07 MPa1/2) < toluene (17.31 MPa1/2) < hexane (19.86 MPa1/2) < isopentane (20.43 MPa1/2). Same trend was also observed between the organic solvents and DETA. The larger the solubility parameter distance, the denser and thicker the polyamide. Consequently, field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS) analysis revealed that TFCisopentane had the thickest polyamide layer. It also delivered the highest pervaporation efficiency (permeation flux = 860 ± 71 g m−2 h−1; water concentration in permeate = 99.2 ± 0.8 wt%; pervaporation separation index = 959,760) at dehydration of 90 wt% aqueous ethanol solution. Furthermore, TFCisopentane also exhibited a high separation efficiency in isopropanol and tert-butanol. Therefore, a suitable organic solvent in preparation of TFC membrane through interfacial polymerization enables high pervaporation efficiency.

PIM-1 pore-filled thin film composite membranes for tunable organic solvent nanofiltration

Herein, a novel thin film composite (TFC) membrane pore-filled with polymer of intrinsic microporosity, PIM-1, has been developed for organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN). The TFC membranes were facilely prepared by dip-coating of PIM-1/chloroform solution onto polyacrylonitrile support membranes followed by a solvent vapor annealing (SVA) process. The relationship between preparation conditions, selective layer morphologies and OSN performances of the prepared TFC membranes were studied systematically. It was found PIM-1 was evidently filled into the near surface pores of support membranes due to the infiltration of PIM-1 solution. With the elongation of SVA time, the thickness of the PIM-1 layer decreased and the PIM-1/PAN interface gradually disappeared, which is advantageous to enhance the interfacial bonding. The prepared TFC membranes were used to reject organic molecules in organic solvents and exhibited tunable solvent permeability and solute rejection. Especially, the membranes were suitable for the removal of neutral molecules and anionic dyes from ethanol. The typical membrane demonstrated an ethanol permeance of 4.3 L m−2 h−1 bar−1 with a rejection of 93.7% towards Methyl Orange (327 Da). By comparing the permeance of various solvents, it is found that the closer the Hansen solubility parameter of solvent is to that of PIM-1, the higher the solvent permeance. This indicates the affinity between solvent and membrane plays an important role in solvent permeability. This work offers a novel and convenient strategy to prepare highly permeable membranes with controllable microstructures and tunable permselectivity to meet the diverse demands of molecular separation in organic solvents.

Study of synergetic effect and comparison of novel sulfonated and carboxylated bulky diamine-diol and piperazine in preparation of negative charge NF membrane

Two new sulfonated (SDA) and carboxylated (CDA) aromatic diamine-diol monomers were synthesized and applied to prepare thin-film composite (TFC) nanofiltration (NF) membranes with improved antifouling and performance properties. The interfacial polymerization method was used to make sulfonated and carboxylated TFC-NF membranes with reaction of trimesoyl chloride (TMC) in the organic phase with amine and hydroxyl agents in the aqueous phase. Herein, for the first time, a comparison between carboxylated and sulfonated TFC was carried out. Moreover, the probability of synergetic effect between these two synthetic monomers (CDA and SDA) and piperazine monomer was studied (the sulfonated monomer and piperazine showed a synergetic effect). The outcomes of flux recovery ratio (FRR), flux and contact angle showed that in the presence of newly synthesized monomers, membrane hydrophilicity considerably improved. The salt retention sequence for all membranes was Na2SO4 ≫ NaCl > CaCl2, which means all membranes had a negative charge. Among the five prepared TFC membranes (SDA, CDA, PIP, SDA/PIP, and CDA/PIP), the SDA/PIP showed the best salt rejection (97% Na2SO4) with flux (50 Lm−2 h−1) and 91% FRR, at operating pressure of 10 bars. Although the SDA showed the highest permeability (62 Lm−2 h−1) and FRR of 92%, it presented the lowest Na2SO4 rejection. The results indicated that mixing carboxylated monomers with PIP caused deterioration in properties, while mixing sulfonated monomer with PIP enhanced the performances of the related TFC. Better permeability of the membrane made by newly synthesized monomers is ascribed to the existence of strong hydrophilic sulfonic acid, carboxylic acid and terminal hydroxyls, and amine groups at polyamide top layer producing enhanced membrane antifouling properties.

Preparation of Polymer Membranes by In Situ Interfacial Polymerization

Membranes currently have a wide application in sewage treatment and water purification processes, in seawater desalination, and in various technological processes where high product purity is required. Deposition of an ultrathin skin layer of TFC (thin-film composite) and TFN (thin-film nanocomposite) onto the surface of membranes is discussed in this article. Their presence improves membrane properties such as retention of impurities and permeability. The aim of this paper is to present the current state of knowledge about the methods of preparing composite and nanocomposite membranes. The properties of the prepared TFC membranes can be modified by changing the type and concentration of the reacting monomers, and the physical conditions in which the membrane preparation process itself is carried out are also significant. Additionally, the properties of TFN membranes can be further modified with nanocomposites. The membranes are characterized by different properties not only because they have nanoparticles in their structure but also because their concentration and the way they are blended into the membrane structure were changed. This paper provides information on modifications of TFN membranes with nanoparticles, as well as modification by changes in polymerization reaction conditions and monomer concentration. Examples of the use of TFN and TFC membranes are also presented.

Preparation of nanocavity-contained thin film composite nanofiltration membranes with enhanced permeability and divalent to monovalent ion selectivity

Using hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrins (OH-β-CD) as aqueous phase additive, nanocavity-contained thin film composite (TFC) nanofiltration (NF) membranes were prepared by interfacial polymerization of piperazine (PIP) and trimesoyl chloride (TMC). Attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis confirmed the successful incorporation of OH-β-CDs into the thin polyamide rejection layers. The rejection layer morphologies and structures, surface properties and separation performances of the prepared TFC membranes were greatly influenced by the OH-β-CD mass ratio in aqueous phase during interfacial polymerization. With appropriate OH-β-CD mass ratios (20–60%), the prepared TFC membranes showed enhanced water flux, reduced RNaCl, increased RNa2SO4 and RMgSO4, which led to highly improved divalent to monovalent ions selectivity. These nanocavity-contained TFC membranes exhibited the potential to apply in desalination pretreatment.

Synthesis of high-performance thin film composite (TFC) membranes by controlling the preparation conditions: Technical notes

Reverse osmosis (RO) is one of the most globally competitive technologies for desalination and water purification, in which thin film composite (TFC) membrane is the common form of membranes used. In this paper, we examined changes in membrane performance by studying the effects of 1) m-phenylenediamine (MPD) and trimesoyl chloride (TMC) exposure times; 2) different phase inversion methods to prepare polysulfone (PSU) support sheets; 3) the support sheet thickness, and 4) the fabricated membrane’s drying temperature. Operational conditions of 300 psi, 25 °C, 2000 ppm NaCl, and sample run time of at least 8 h were applied. Optimal performance results were achieved when the interfacial polymerization time was short, and a vertical immersion during PSU layer preparation was applied. Increasing PSU sheet thickness increased the salt rejection but decreased the water flux, while rising the curing temperature led to an enhancement in salt rejection and water flux at short reaction times. Based on this study, a TFC membrane of NaCl rejection 98.8 ± 0.5% and water flux 76.1 ± 2.7 L/m2 h was fabricated using 25 s MPD contacting time, 5 s TMC reaction time, and 110 °C drying temperature. This result is considered high among reported outcomes in the literature for simply prepared TFC membranes.

A thin-film composite-hollow fiber forward osmosis membrane with a polyketone hollow fiber membrane as a support

We have developed a thin-film composite (TFC) hollow fiber (HF) forward osmosis (FO) membrane using a polyketone HF membrane as a support. To investigate the effect of the diameter of the HF support membrane on the resulting FO performance of the TFC-HF-FO membrane, two-types of HFs with different inner diameters (HF-A: 347μm and HF-B: 609μm) were used. The FO performance of the prepared TFC membranes was measured and then analyzed using intrinsic membrane parameters obtained by an FO fitting method. These intrinsic parameters can be used to estimate the experimental data under various operating conditions. The prepared TFC-FO membrane using the HF with smaller diameter (TFC-FO (HF-A)) showed higher FO flux and better mechanical properties than those of the membrane prepared using the HF with larger diameter (TFC-FO (HF-B)), while higher operational pumping energy consumption is necessary because of higher bore-side pressure drop. Barlow's equation and the Hagen-Poiseuille equation were used to analyze the experimental data on the maximum burst pressure and the data on bore-side pressure drop of the prepared TFC FO membranes, respectively. The prepared TFC-FO membrane using the HF with smaller diameter showed one of highest FO fluxes yet reported in the literature.

Organic phase addition of anionic/non-ionic surfactants to poly(paraphenyleneterephthalamide) thin film composite nanofiltration membranes

Thin-film composite (TFC) nanofiltration (NF) membranes containing poly (paraphenylene terephthalamide) skin layer on polyethersulfone (PES) support layer were prepared by in situ interfacial polymerization using p-phenylenediamine (PPD) in water and terephthaloyl chloride (TPC) in n-hexane. The effects of sodium lauryl ether sulfate (SLES), triethanolamine lauryl ether sulfate (TEA-LES) and disodium laureth sulfosuccinate (DSLS) as anionic surfactants as well as cocamide-MEA, polysorbate 20 and nonylphenol as non-ionic surfactants, in the organic phase on the properties of TFC membrane were investigated. The performance of prepared TFC membranes was investigated for the rejection of NaCl, Na2SO4 and MgSO4 ion solutions by dead-end filtration set-up. ATR-IR, SEM, AFM and zeta potential were applied to characterize the structure and morphology of the prepared TFC membranes. By addition of anionic surfactants in the organic phase, no significant change in the morphology and performance was observed; however, in the presence of non-ionic surfactants, the morphology and performance were changed and the salt rejections were increased. The structure of thin layer of membrane incorporated TEA-LES surfactant was not good and its surface had defect and micro crack. The highest salt rejections were obtained using nonylphenol in comparison with the other anionic/non-ionic surfactants.

Polyurethane TFC nanofiltration membranes based on interfacial polymerization of poly(bis-MPA) and MDI on the polyethersulfone support

Abstract A new type of thin film composite (TFC) nanofiltration membranes was prepared based on a polyethersulfone (PES) support using interfacial polymerization of poly(bis-MPA) (Boltron®) and methylene diphenyl diisosyanate (MDI). The prepared TFC membranes were fully characterized using several techniques, including ATR-FTIR, SEM, AFM and water contact angle measurements. Nanofiltration performance of the prepared membranes was studied using determination of the water flux, and dye, salt, and transition metal rejections. The results clearly were indicated that solute rejection (dye, salt and transition metal) improved but water flux decreased with an increase of generation and/or concentration of the hyperbranched polyester. Finally, anti-fouling properties of the membranes were also investigated by static protein adsorption studies.

Preparation of thin-film composite nanofiltration membranes with improved antifouling property and flux using 2,2′-oxybis-ethylamine

Thin-film composite (TFC) nanofiltration membranes were fabricated via interfacial polymerization using 2,2′-oxybis-ethylamine (2,2′-OEL) as an aqueous monomer. The chemical composition and morphology of the membrane surface were confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM). The results showed that interfacial polymerization successfully occurred and pore size of the resultant membranes was in the range of nanofiltration. Hydrophilicity of the membranes was investigated through water contact angle measurement. Water flux and salt rejection measurement showed that the prepared TFC membranes had a high flux at 35.6L/m2h despite the salt rejection slightly decreased. The prepared TFC membranes showed good antifouling performance (best flux recovery ratio was 98.5%) and fouling resistant capacity increased with the concentration of 2,2′-OEL. Compared with the PIP-TMC membranes, low concentration of 2,2′-OEL could maintain as high Na2SO4 rejection of membrane as PIP-TMC membranes and show better fouling resistance performance.