Reverse osmosis membrane functionalized with aminated graphene oxide and polydopamine nanospheres plugging for enhanced NDMA rejection and anti-fouling performance.

Autor: Khanzada NK; School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; NYUAD Water Research Center, New York University Abu Dhabi, P.O. Box 129188, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates., Rehman S; Department of Mechanical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region., Kharraz JA; School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Center for Membranes and Advanced Water Technology (CMAT), Department of Chemical Engineering, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 127788, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates., Farid MU; School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region., Khatri M; NYUAD Water Research Center, New York University Abu Dhabi, P.O. Box 129188, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates., Hilal N; NYUAD Water Research Center, New York University Abu Dhabi, P.O. Box 129188, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Electronic address: nidal.hilal@nyu.edu., An AK; School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Electronic address: alicia.kjan@cityu.edu.hk.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Chemosphere [Chemosphere] 2023 Oct; Vol. 338, pp. 139557. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Jul 19.
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.139557
Abstrakt: The use of reverse osmosis (RO) for water reclamation has become an essential part of the water supply owing to the ever-increasing water demand and the utmost performance of the RO membranes. Despite the global RO implementation, its inferior rejection against low molecular weight contaminants of emerging concerns (CECs) (i.e., N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA)) and propensity to fouling remain bottle-neck thus affecting process robustness for water reuse. This study aims to enhance both the rejection and antifouling properties of the RO membrane. Herein for the first time, we report RO membrane modification using polydopamine nanospheres (PDA ns ) followed by aminated-graphene oxide (AGO) deposition as an effective approach to overcome these challenges. The modification of the RO membrane using PDA ns -AGO resulted in 89.3 ± 2.7% rejection compared to the pristine RO membrane which demonstrated 69.2 ± 2.1% NDMA rejection. This significant improvement can be ascribed to the plugging and shielding of defective areas (formed during interfacial polymerization) of the polyamide layer through active PDA ns and AGO layers and to the added sieving mechanism that arose through narrow channels of the AGO owing to its reduction. Moreover, the in-situ and non-destructive fouling monitoring using optical coherence tomography (OCT) revealed that the PDA ns -AGO coating enhanced both the anti-scaling and anti-biofouling characteristics. The improved hydrophilicity and bactericidal effect together with roughness and surface charge suppression synergistically enhanced anti-fouling properties. This study provides a new direction for safe and cost-effective water reuse practices. The membrane with high selectivity against CECs such as NDMA has the potential to eliminate permeate staging using second pass RO and other advanced oxidation processes which are utilized as a tertiary treatment to make reclaimed water suitable for potable/non-potable application.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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