Preparation of defect free TFC FO membranes using robust and highly porous ceramic substrate

In this study, robust and defect-free thin film composite (TFC) forward osmosis (FO) membranes have been successfully fabricated using ceramic hollow fibers as the substrate. Polydopamine (PDA) coating under controlled conditions is effective to reduce the surface pores of the substrate and make the substrate smooth enough for the interfacial polymerization. The pure water permeability (A), solute permeability (B) and structural parameter (S) of the resultant FO membrane are 0.854 L·m-2h-1bar-1 (LMH/Bar) 0.186 L·m-2h-1 (LMH) and 1720 µm, respectively. The water flux and reverse draw solute flux are measured using NaCl and proprietary ferric sodium citrate (FeNaCA) draw solutions at low and high osmotic pressure ranges. With increasing the osmotic pressure, higher water flux is obtained but its increase is not directly proportional to the increase in the osmotic pressure. At the membrane surface, the effect of dilutive concentration polarization is much less serious for FeNaCA draw solutions. At an osmotic pressure of 89.6 bar, the developed TFC membrane generates water fluxes of 11.5 and 30.0 LMH using NaCl and synthesized FeNaCA draw solutions. The corresponding reverse draw solute flux is 7.0 g·m-2h-1 (gMH) for NaCl draw solution but it is not detectable for FeNaCA draw solution. This means that the developed TFC FO membranes are defect free and their surface pores are at molecular level. The performance of the developed TFC FO membranes are also demonstrated for the enrichment of BSA protein.