Preparation and characterization of low pressure reverse osmosis Surfactant Membrane for water desalination

This research focused on the development and characterization of low pressure reverse osmosis surfactant membrane for water desalination. The major effects of polysulfone (PSF) polymer concentration, surfactant types and concentration on the water desalination had been investigated. The micro-sale test analysis on the effectiveness of the newly low pressure reverse osmosis-surfactant membranes were appraised based on saline water desalination at 5 bar of operating pressure. Subsequently, the significant effects of surfactant towards morphological structure, thermal analysis and physico-chemical properties of the membranes had been discussed using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Fourier-Transform Infrared spectroscope (FTIR), respectively. Primarily, in terms of polymer concentration, membrane PSP1 obtained the best performance of membrane for saline water desalination as compared to PSP3 which was 87.25% on seawater rejection. Then, surfactants concentration varied from 1.0 wt. % to 3.0 wt. % on order to study their effects on membrane performances. The optimization confirmed that 2 wt.% of surfactant is the optimum concentration for all types of surfactant in producing membranes with high performances. Among the type of surfactant, it an be said that CTAB gave highest improvement in membrane performance. Membrane PSP1-C2 is the best membrane to be used in saline water desalination, supported by the high porosity structural morphology, and good thermal stability and physico-chemical property.