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Cellulose acetate reverse osmosis membranes: Optimization of the composition
Author(s) -
Duarte A. P.,
Cidade M. T.,
Bordado J. C.
Publication year - 2006
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.23237
Subject(s) - cellulose triacetate , membrane , cellulose , acetic acid , cellulose acetate , solvent , acetone , reverse osmosis , polymer chemistry , methanol , chemical engineering , chemistry , materials science , nuclear chemistry , chromatography , organic chemistry , biochemistry , engineering
Membranes based on cellulose acetate for reverse osmosis can possibly be applied to the so‐called salinity process of energy generation and water desalinization. The requirements for membranes for these two different applications are a relatively high water flux and low salt permeability. In this article, we present the optimization of the composition of such membranes. We started by producing membranes with a patented casting solution with the following composition: 45.77 wt % dioxane, 17.61 wt % acetone, and 8.45 wt % acetic acid (solvents); 14.09 wt % methanol (nonsolvent); and 7.04 wt % cellulose diacetate and 7.04 wt % cellulose triacetate. The membranes produced with this solution were analyzed comparatively, with the membranes obtained by the introduction of modifications to the following parameters: the solvent mix, the nonsolvent mix, the proportion of cellulose diacetate and cellulose triacetate in the casting solution, and the addition of reinforcing cellulose fibers. The results led us to conclude that the best membrane formulation had the following composition: 45.77 wt % dioxane, 17.61 wt % acetone, and 8.45 wt % acetic acid (solvents); 4.22 wt % cellulose triacetate and 9.86 wt % cellulose diacetate (polymers); 14.09 wt % methanol (nonsolvent); and 0.5 wt % cellulose fibers (with respect to the total polymer content). © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 100: 4052–4058, 2006