Issue 27, 2018, Issue in Progress

Modification of polyamide TFC nanofiltration membrane for improving separation and antifouling properties

Abstract

In this work, a dendrimer trimesoyl amide amine (TMAAM) monomer was proposed to be used as a key functional monomer to modify the conventional aromatic polyamide thin-film composite (TFC) nanofiltration (NF) membrane, and a new kind of TMAAM-based semi-aromatic polyamide composite NF membrane was thus prepared by interfacial polymerization. The effects of the PIP/TMAAM ratio (PIP = piperazine) on the membrane chemical structure, surface properties and separation performances were investigated systematically. With the increase in TMAAM content loaded in the membrane, the water flux strongly increased but the salt rejection decreased only slightly. When the PIP/TMAAM ratio was 1, the membrane NF-2 exhibited a smoother and more hydrophilic surface, as a result of which it displayed an optimum separation performance for different valent salts. In addition, the TMAAM modified TFC membrane presented an extremely high rejection to negatively charged dye molecules and high permeation for monovalent salts, leading to good prospects for dye/salt separation application. Moreover, both the water flux and salt rejection of the TMAAM-based membrane were stable in a long-term running process, and the membrane showed a favourable anti-fouling property and efficient cleaning recovery. Therefore, this work provides a new type of semi-aromatic polyamide composite NF membrane fabricated by a facile and straightforward method via interfacial polymerization with high hydrophilicity, good stability and strong anti-fouling property.

Graphical abstract: Modification of polyamide TFC nanofiltration membrane for improving separation and antifouling properties

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
12 Feb 2018
Accepted
27 Mar 2018
First published
20 Apr 2018
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2018,8, 15102-15110

Modification of polyamide TFC nanofiltration membrane for improving separation and antifouling properties

L. Liu, X. Huang, X. Zhang, K. Li, Y. Ji, C. Yu and C. Gao, RSC Adv., 2018, 8, 15102 DOI: 10.1039/C8RA01374H

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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