Hydrophobic thin film composite nanofiltration membranes derived solely from sustainable sources
Type
ArticleAuthors
Park, Sang-HeeAlammar, Abdulaziz
Fülöp, Zsolt
Pulido Ponce de Leon, Bruno Antonio

Nunes, Suzana Pereira

Szekely, Gyorgy

KAUST Department
Advanced Membranes and Porous Materials Research CenterBiological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) Division
Chemical Engineering Program
Environmental Science and Engineering Program
Nanostructured Polymeric Membrane Lab
Physical Science and Engineering (PSE) Division
Date
2020Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/666034
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Membrane separations are considered to be sustainable technologies because of their relatively low energy consumption. However, the fabrication of membranes is yet to turn green. Thin film composite (TFC) membranes are fabricated from petroleum-based monomers and solvent system, which can undermine the energy-saving benefits of their application in separation processes. Here, we report the fabrication of high-performance TFC membranes fabricated solely from sustainable resources such as plant-based monomers, green solvents and recycled polymer waste. We found that the ultrathin selective layer (30 nm) of the hydrophobic membrane exhibited excellent performance, and an acetone permeance as high as 13.7 L m-2 h-1 bar-1 with a 90% rejection of styrene dimer (235 g mol-1) was achieved. Stability in six solvents and long-term continuous nanofiltration over one week demonstrated the robustness of the membranes. Control over the selectivity of the membrane (cut-off between 236 and 795 g mol-1) was successfully achieved by changing the conditions of the interfacial polymerization.Citation
Park, S.-H., Alammar, A., Fülöp, Z., Pulido, B., Nunes, S., & Szekely, G. (2020). Hydrophobic thin film composite nanofiltration membranes derived solely from sustainable sources. Green Chemistry. doi:10.1039/d0gc03226cSponsors
Fig. 1a was created by Heno Hwang, scientific illustrator at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). Solid-state 13C NMR spectra were collected by Gergo Ignacz from Advanced Membranes and Porous Materials Center and Abdul Hamid Emwas from Core Labs, both at KAUST. The research reported in this publication was supported by funding from KAUST.Journal
Green ChemistryAdditional Links
https://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2020/GC/D0GC03226Cae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1039/D0GC03226C
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