Modification of Thin Film Composite Pressure Retarded Osmosis Membrane by Polyethylene Glycol with Different Molecular Weights
Siti Nur Amirah Idris,
Nora Jullok,
Woei Jye Lau,
Akmal Hadi Ma’Radzi,
Hui Lin Ong,
Muhammad Mahyidin Ramli,
Cheng-Di Dong
Affiliations
Siti Nur Amirah Idris
Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Kompleks Pusat Pengajian Jejawi 3, Kawasan Perindustrian Jejawi, Arau 02600, Perlis, Malaysia
Nora Jullok
Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Kompleks Pusat Pengajian Jejawi 3, Kawasan Perindustrian Jejawi, Arau 02600, Perlis, Malaysia
Woei Jye Lau
Advanced Membrane Technology Research Centre, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia—UTM, Skudai 81310, Johor, Malaysia
Akmal Hadi Ma’Radzi
Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Kompleks Pusat Pengajian Jejawi 3, Kawasan Perindustrian Jejawi, Arau 02600, Perlis, Malaysia
Hui Lin Ong
Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Kompleks Pusat Pengajian Jejawi 3, Kawasan Perindustrian Jejawi, Arau 02600, Perlis, Malaysia
Muhammad Mahyidin Ramli
Faculty of Electronic Engineering Technology, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Changlun—Kuala Perlis Highway, Arau 02600, Perlis, Malaysia
Cheng-Di Dong
Department of Marine Environmental Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, 142, Hai-Chuan Road, Nan-Tzu District, Kaohsiung 81157, Taiwan
An investigation of the effect of the molecular weight of polyethylene glycol (PEG) on thin-film composite (TFC) flat sheet polysulfone membrane performance was conducted systematically, for application in forward osmosis (FO) and pressure retarded osmosis (PRO). The TFC flat sheet PSf-modified membranes were prepared via a non-solvent phase-separation technique by introducing PEGs of different molecular weights into the dope solution. The TFC flat sheet PSf-PEG membranes were characterized by SEM, FTIR and AFM. The PSf membrane modified with PEG 600 was found to have the optimum composition. Under FO mode, this modified membrane had a water permeability of 12.30 Lm−2h−1 and a power density of 2.22 Wm−2, under a pressure of 8 bar in PRO mode, using 1 M NaCl and deionized water as the draw and feed solutions, respectively. The high water permeability and good mechanical stability of the modified TFC flat sheet PSF-PEG membrane in this study suggests that this membrane has great potential in future osmotically powered generation systems.
