The effect of acylation catalyst and surfactant additives on the performance of reverse osmosis membranes prepared by interfacial polymerization

In this study, polyamide thin film composite (TFC) reverse osmosis membranes were prepared by interfacial polymerization of m-henylenediamine (MPD) and 1,3,5-benzene tricarboxylic acid chloride or trimesoyl chloride (TMC) monomers. Also, the effect of triethylamine (TEA) as an acylation catalyst and camphor sulfonic acid (CSA) as a surfactant was investigated on the performance of the prepared membranes. The results revealed with the addition of the 4 wt.% TEA and 4 wt.% CSA, the salt retention increased from 57% to 95.3% without loss in the water permeability.

Keywords:

Interfacial polymerization , Reverse osmosis , Desalination , Thin film composite