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Plasma‐modified nylon 4 membranes for reverse osmosis desalination
Author(s) -
Lai J. Y.,
Chao Y. C.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.1990.070391109
Subject(s) - membrane , reverse osmosis , acrylic acid , aqueous solution , contact angle , materials science , chemical engineering , formic acid , desalination , polymer chemistry , monomer , chromatography , chemistry , nuclear chemistry , organic chemistry , composite material , polymer , biochemistry , engineering
The effects of maturation time of casting solution and annealing conditions on reverse osmosis (RO) properties of nylon 4 membranes are studied. The effects of plasma treatment conditions, such as supply power, treatment time, and gases used in reactor, on the water contact angle, surface energy, water flux, and salt rejection of nylon 4 membranes are considered. The best results of 4.86 × 10 −5 g/cm 2 s of water flux with 74.2% of salt rejection for 1 wt % NaCl aqueous feed solution can be obtained in the conditions of plasma treatment for 80 W–3 min in a reactor with O 2 on 25 wt % formic acid–4 h annealing nylon 4 membranes. The hydrophilic monomers, such as 1‐vinyl‐2‐pyrrolidone (VP), 2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), and acrylic acid (AA), are plasma deposited onto the chemical and/or plasma etched nylon 4 membranes to improve the salt rejection without decrease in water flux. The salt rejection of 90.9% and water flux of 3.64 × 10 −5 g/cm 2 s of the deposited membrane are obtained in the conditions of depositing AA monomer onto the substrate membrane which was previously treated with annealing followed with plasma etching.