Porous substrate affects fouling propensity of thin-film composite nanofiltration membranes
Fouling is a critical consideration for the design of thin-film composite (TFC) nanofiltration membranes. Traditional wisdom believes that fouling propensity is primarily dictated by membrane surface properties while porous substrates play little role (on the basis on the latter have no effect on th...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2022-11-01
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| Series: | Journal of Membrane Science Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S277242122200023X |
| _version_ | 1811178882875785216 |
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| author | Chenyue Wu Li Long Zhe Yang Chuyang Y. Tang |
| author_facet | Chenyue Wu Li Long Zhe Yang Chuyang Y. Tang |
| author_sort | Chenyue Wu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Fouling is a critical consideration for the design of thin-film composite (TFC) nanofiltration membranes. Traditional wisdom believes that fouling propensity is primarily dictated by membrane surface properties while porous substrates play little role (on the basis on the latter have no effect on the foulant-membrane interaction). Nevertheless, porous substrates can regulate the water transport pathways, resulting in uneven water flux distribution over the membrane surface. For the first time, we experimentally investigated the micro-scale water flux distribution for nanofiltration membranes with different substrate porosities and the impact of such flux distribution pattern on fouling. With gold nanoparticles as tracers, we demonstrated more evenly distributed water flux at increasing substrate porosity. This was found to effectively alleviate membrane fouling by eliminating localized hot spots of high flux. Furthermore, higher substrate porosity also effectively enhanced the membrane water permeance due to the optimized water transport pathways. Our study reveals the fundamental relationship between the micro-scale transport behavior and the membrane fouling propensity, which provides a firm basis for the rational design of TFC membranes toward better separation performance. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T06:25:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bebe965838154342af6a4fd1b8099d11 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2772-4212 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T06:25:30Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Membrane Science Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-bebe965838154342af6a4fd1b8099d112022-12-22T04:40:23ZengElsevierJournal of Membrane Science Letters2772-42122022-11-0122100036Porous substrate affects fouling propensity of thin-film composite nanofiltration membranesChenyue Wu0Li Long1Zhe Yang2Chuyang Y. Tang3Department of Civil Engineering, the University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, PR ChinaDepartment of Civil Engineering, the University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, PR ChinaCorresponding authors.; Department of Civil Engineering, the University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, PR ChinaCorresponding authors.; Department of Civil Engineering, the University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, PR ChinaFouling is a critical consideration for the design of thin-film composite (TFC) nanofiltration membranes. Traditional wisdom believes that fouling propensity is primarily dictated by membrane surface properties while porous substrates play little role (on the basis on the latter have no effect on the foulant-membrane interaction). Nevertheless, porous substrates can regulate the water transport pathways, resulting in uneven water flux distribution over the membrane surface. For the first time, we experimentally investigated the micro-scale water flux distribution for nanofiltration membranes with different substrate porosities and the impact of such flux distribution pattern on fouling. With gold nanoparticles as tracers, we demonstrated more evenly distributed water flux at increasing substrate porosity. This was found to effectively alleviate membrane fouling by eliminating localized hot spots of high flux. Furthermore, higher substrate porosity also effectively enhanced the membrane water permeance due to the optimized water transport pathways. Our study reveals the fundamental relationship between the micro-scale transport behavior and the membrane fouling propensity, which provides a firm basis for the rational design of TFC membranes toward better separation performance.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S277242122200023XNanofiltrtion memrbanePolyamide filmFunnel effectLocalized fluxFouling |
| spellingShingle | Chenyue Wu Li Long Zhe Yang Chuyang Y. Tang Porous substrate affects fouling propensity of thin-film composite nanofiltration membranes Journal of Membrane Science Letters Nanofiltrtion memrbane Polyamide film Funnel effect Localized flux Fouling |
| title | Porous substrate affects fouling propensity of thin-film composite nanofiltration membranes |
| title_full | Porous substrate affects fouling propensity of thin-film composite nanofiltration membranes |
| title_fullStr | Porous substrate affects fouling propensity of thin-film composite nanofiltration membranes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Porous substrate affects fouling propensity of thin-film composite nanofiltration membranes |
| title_short | Porous substrate affects fouling propensity of thin-film composite nanofiltration membranes |
| title_sort | porous substrate affects fouling propensity of thin film composite nanofiltration membranes |
| topic | Nanofiltrtion memrbane Polyamide film Funnel effect Localized flux Fouling |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S277242122200023X |
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