Novel Maleic Acid, Crosslinked, Nanofibrous Chitosan/Poly (Vinylpyrrolidone) Membranes for Reverse Osmosis Desalination
Israr Ali, Muhammad Asim Raza, Rashid Mehmood, Atif Islam, Aneela Sabir, Nafisa Gull, Bilal Haider, Sang Hyun Park, Rafi Ullah Khan
Abstract
Fresh and clean water is consistently depleting and becoming a serious problem with rapid increases in population, so seawater desalination technology has captured global attention. For an efficient desalination process, this work proposes a novel, nanofibrous, thin-film composite membrane (NF-TFC) based on the deposition of the nanofibrous active layer of a blend of chitosan (CS) and poly (vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) crosslinked with maleic acid on a 3-triethoxysilylpropylamine functionalized cellulose acetate substrate. FTIR analysis demonstrated the development of chemical and physical interactions and confirmed the incorporation of functional groups present in the NF-TFC. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrographs depict the fibrous structure of the active layers. The reverse osmosis (RO) desalination characteristics of NF-TFC membranes are elevated by increasing the concentration of the crosslinker in a CS/PVP blend. Cellulose acetate (CA)-S4 attained an optimal salt rejection of 98.3% and permeation flux of 42.9 L/m2h, suggesting that the NF-TFC membranes could be favorable for seawater desalination.