Behnam Khorshidi

A Novel Approach Toward Fabrication of High Performance Thin Film Composite Polyamide Membranes.

A practical method is reported to enhance water permeability of thin film composite (TFC) polyamide (PA) membranes by decreasing the thickness of the selective PA layer. The composite membranes were prepared by interfacial polymerization (IP) reaction between meta-phenylene diamine (MPD)-aqueous and trimesoyl chloride (TMC)-organic solvents at the surface of polyethersulfone (PES) microporous support. Several PA TFC membranes were prepared at different temperatures of the organic solution ranging from −20 °C to 50 °C. The physico-chemical and morphological properties of the synthesized membranes were carefully characterized using serval analytical techniques. The results confirmed that the TFC membranes, synthesized at sub-zero temperatures of organic solution, had thinner and smoother PA layer with a greater degree of cross-linking and wettability compared to the PA films prepared at 50 °C. We demonstrated that reducing the temperature of organic solution effectively decreased the thickness of the PA active layer and thus enhanced water permeation through the membranes. The most water permeable membrane was prepared at −20 °C and exhibited nine times higher water flux compared to the membrane synthesized at room temperature. The method proposed in this report can be effectively applied for energy- and cost-efficient development of high performance nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes.

Thin film composite polyamide membranes: parametric study on the influence of synthesis conditions

Preparation of thin film composite (TFC) polyamide (PA) membranes by interfacial polymerization (IP) reaction is remarkably sensitive to the interactions between synthesis parameters. Here we report the effect of the simultaneous change in four synthesis parameters, namely monomers concentrations (m-phenylenediamine, MPD, and trimesoyl chloride, TMC), reaction time and curing temperature, on the surface morphology and on the permeation properties of TFC membranes. By varying several synthesis parameters at the same time using a Taguchi robust design (L9 orthogonal arrays), it was found that monomers concentration and curing temperature significantly affected water permeation by creating a substantial change in morphology of the PA films. More importantly, a strong interaction between monomers concentration was observed, which demonstrates the importance of smart adjustment of these parameters in the preparation process. Permeation properties were justified by thickness and by the cross-link density of the synthesized films; the latter was found to be more influential. Based on analysis of variance (ANOVA), the contribution of the synthesis parameters towards change in water permeation was determined as: curing temperature (40.7%) > MPD concentration (28%) ∼ TMC concentration (27.8%) > reaction time (1.9%). The findings will provide valuable guidelines to develop practical low cost, robust and high performance membranes by changing the curing temperature and the monomer concentrations as critical parameters.

Robust fabrication of thin film polyamide-TiO 2 nanocomposite membranes with enhanced thermal stability and anti-biofouling propensity

The development of nano-enabled composite materials has led to a paradigm shift in the manufacture of high-performance nanocomposite membranes with enhanced permeation, thermo-mechanical, and antibacterial properties. The major challenges to the successful incorporation of nanoparticles (NPs) to polymer films are the severe aggregation of the NPs and the weak compatibility of NPs with polymers. These two phenomena lead to the formation of non-selective voids at the interface of the polymer and NPs, which adversely affect the separation performance of the membrane. To overcome these challenges, we have developed a new method for the fabrication of robust TFN reverse osmosis membranes. This approach relies on the simultaneous synthesis and surface functionalization of TiO2 NPs in an organic solvent (heptane) via biphasic solvothermal reaction. The resulting stable suspension of the TiO2 NPs in heptane was then utilized in the interfacial (in-situ) polymerization reaction where the NPs were entrapped within the matrix of the polyamide (PA) membrane. TiO2 NPs of 10 nm were effectively incorporated into the thin PA layer and improved the thermal stability and anti-biofouling properties of the resulting TFN membranes. These features make our synthesized membranes potential candidates for applications where the treatment of high-temperature streams containing biomaterials is desirable.

Parametric study on the stabilization of metal oxide nanoparticles in organic solvents: A case study with indium tin oxide (ITO) and heptane

The tendency of nanoparticles (NPs) to form large aggregates has been a major limitation to their widespread applications where utilizing monodisperse and stable suspension of NPs is essential. The aggregation of NPs becomes more challenging when there is less affinity between the dispersed phase (NPs) and the continuous phase (solvent), such as, dispersion of hydrophilic metal oxide NPs into a nonpolar (organic) solvent. The objective of this study is to systematically investigate the synergistic effects of eight dispersion parameters on the size and stability of indium tin oxide (ITO) NPs in heptane. The matrix of experimentation was designed using an L18 Taguchi method. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the experimental results revealed that the most significant factors on the size and stability of NPs were the mass of ITO NPs and the volume of the dispersing agent. Taguchi signal-to-noise (SN) ratio analysis was used to determine the optimal factor levels for the preparation of well-dispersed and stable NP suspensions. Confirmation tests were carried out at the suggested levels of the ANOVA predictive model, and highly stable ITO NPs in heptane with the size distribution of 43.0-68.3nm were obtained. The results of the present parametric study can be used for a broad range of applications where effective stabilization of metal oxide NPs in organic solvents is desired.

Treatment of oil sands produced water using combined electrocoagulation and chemical coagulation techniques

Hybrid electrocoagulation-chemical coagulation (EC-CC) process has attracted a growing attention for the removal of various types of wastewaters contaminants. In this paper, the feasibility of EC-CC technique as an alternative to conventional chemical processes for the treatment of steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) produced water has been systematically studied. Eight parameters, namely electrode material, cell configuration, pH and temperature of the solution, chemical coagulant dosage, intensity of the electrical current, mixing rate, and treatment time were studied. To explore the synergistic effect of the design parameters, the experimental trials were arranged using Taguchi method. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to evaluate the effect of each design parameter on the organic matter removal from the SAGD produced water. It was found that all parameters except the electrode arrangement had a significant effect on the removal efficiency of the EC-CC process. Among these parameters, the chemical coagulant and the treatment time had the most significant contribution to the efficiency by 40% and 26%, respectively. The optimum condition for the highest TOC removal efficiency (39.8%) was obtained by applying 0.34 A to Al electrode in a bipolar (BP) configuration when the pH, temperature, coagulant concentration, mixing rate, and reaction time were set to 8, 60 °C, 200 mg/L, 700 rpm, and 90 min, respectively. Moreover, a second-order polynomial regression model was proposed to predict the removal efficiency in terms of design parameters. An excellent agreement between the model predictions and experimental data was obtained with the adjusted R2 of about 99%.