Journal Article

IMPULSE-2021-00009

http://join2-wiki.gsi.de/foswiki/pub/Main/Artwork/join2_logo100x88.png Thin film composite membrane compaction in high-pressure reverse osmosis

Davenport, D. M. (Corresponding author) ; Ritt, C. L. ; Verbeke, R. ; Dickmann, M.MLZ* ; Egger, W.MLZ* ; Vankelecom, I. F. J. ; Elimelech, M.

2020
Elsevier New York, NY [u.a.]

Please use a persistent id in citations: doi:10.1016/j.memsci.2020.118268

Abstract: Membrane deformation under an applied hydraulic pressure, often termed compaction, is observed in almost all pressure-driven membrane processes. Most notably, compaction decreases water permeability in conventional reverse osmosis (RO) and is expected to critically hinder high-pressure reverse osmosis (HPRO) for hypersaline brine desalination. In this work, we demonstrated that compaction decreases the water permeability of commercial RO membranes from 2.0 L m−2 h−1 bar−1 at 70 bar applied hydraulic pressure to 1.3 L m−2 h−1 bar−1 at 150 bar. The morphological effects of compaction were primarily associated with changes in the support layer, where a ~60% decrease in cross-sectional thickness is observed following compaction at 150 bar hydraulic pressure. In contrast, positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy demonstrates that the selective layer does not compact irreversibly. The mechanism that drives compaction was found to be the difference in hydraulic pressure across the interface of the selective and support layers. We further found that compaction can reduce the support layer surface porosity by up to ~95%. This decreased porosity is identified as the cause for compaction-induced water permeability decline, while the intrinsic permeability of the selective layer is not influenced by compaction. As such, we conclude that compaction of the support layer has an inextricable impact on composite membrane performance. Finally, we propose recommendations for developing compaction-resistant membranes that can maintain high water permeability, and thus good desalination performance, in high-pressure membrane applications, such as HPRO.

Keyword(s): Polymers, Soft Nano Particles and Proteins (1st) ; Materials Science (2nd)

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Contributing Institute(s):

1. NEPOMUC (NEPOMUC)

Experiment(s):

1. NEPOMUC: Neutron induced positron source munich (SR11)

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Database coverage:
Clarivate Analytics Master Journal List ; Current Contents - Engineering, Computing and Technology ; Current Contents - Physical, Chemical and Earth Sciences ; Ebsco Academic Search ; Essential Science Indicators ; IF >= 5 ; JCR ; SCOPUS ; Science Citation Index Expanded ; Web of Science Core Collection

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