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Impacts of zeolite nanoparticles on substrate properties of thin film nanocomposite membranes for engineered osmosis

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Abstract

In this work, microporous substrates modified by zeolite nanoparticles were prepared and used for composite membrane making with the aim of reducing internal concentration polarization (ICP) effect of membranes during engineered osmosis applications. Nanocomposite substrates were fabricated via phase inversion technique by embedding nanostructured zeolite (clinoptilolite) in the range of 0–0.6 wt% into matrix of polyethersulfone (PES) substrate. Of all the substrates prepared, the PES0.4 substrate (with 0.4 wt% zeolite) exhibited unique characteristics, i.e., increased surface porosity, lower structural parameter (S) (from 0.78 to 0.48 mm), and enhanced water flux. The thin film nanocomposite (TFN) membrane made of this optimized substrate was also reported to exhibit higher water flux compared to the control composite membrane during forward osmosis (FO) and pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO) test, without compromising reverse solute flux. The water flux of such TFN membrane was 43% higher than the control TFC membrane (1.93 L/m2 h bar) with salt rejection recorded at 94.7%. An increment in water flux is ascribed to the reduction in structural parameter, leading to reduced ICP effect.

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Funding

This study was funded by the Kavosh Institute of Higher Education and the Babol Noshirvani University of Technology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical Engineering, Kavosh Institute of Higher Education, Mahmood Abad, Iran

    Tahereh Mombeini Salehi & Mohsen Jahanshahi

  2. Nanotechnology Research Institute, Department of Chemical Engineering, Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Shariati Av., P.O. Box: 484, Babol, 47148-71167, Iran

    Majid Peyravi & Mohsen Jahanshahi

  3. Advanced Membrane Technology Research Centre (AMTEC), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Skudai, Johor, Malaysia

    Woei-Jye Lau

  4. Department of Chemical Engineering, Qaemshahr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qaemshahr, Iran

    Ali Shokuhi Rad

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  1. Tahereh Mombeini Salehi
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  2. Majid Peyravi
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Correspondence to Mohsen Jahanshahi.

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Salehi, T.M., Peyravi, M., Jahanshahi, M. et al. Impacts of zeolite nanoparticles on substrate properties of thin film nanocomposite membranes for engineered osmosis. J Nanopart Res 20, 113 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-018-4154-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-018-4154-1

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