Salt partitioning and transport in polyamide reverse osmosis membranes at ultrahigh pressures

Understanding salt and water transport mechanisms in reverse osmosis (RO) under high pressures and salinities is critical to advancing RO-based brine management technologies. In this study, we investigate the dependence of salt permeance and partitioning on feed salinity and applied pressure. Salt p...

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Main Authors: Kevin Pataroque, Jishan Wu, Jinlong He, Hanqing Fan, Subhamoy Mahajan, Kevin Guo, Jason Le, Kay Au, Li Wang, Ying Li, Eric M.V. Hoek, Menachem Elimelech
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2024-12-01
Series:Journal of Membrane Science Letters
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772421224000138
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author Kevin Pataroque
Jishan Wu
Jinlong He
Hanqing Fan
Subhamoy Mahajan
Kevin Guo
Jason Le
Kay Au
Li Wang
Ying Li
Eric M.V. Hoek
Menachem Elimelech
author_facet Kevin Pataroque
Jishan Wu
Jinlong He
Hanqing Fan
Subhamoy Mahajan
Kevin Guo
Jason Le
Kay Au
Li Wang
Ying Li
Eric M.V. Hoek
Menachem Elimelech
author_sort Kevin Pataroque
collection DOAJ
description Understanding salt and water transport mechanisms in reverse osmosis (RO) under high pressures and salinities is critical to advancing RO-based brine management technologies. In this study, we investigate the dependence of salt permeance and partitioning on feed salinity and applied pressure. Salt partitioning coefficients were determined using a novel high-pressure quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), and salt permeances were collected using a lab-scale high-pressure dead-end cell. Our results show that salt permeance decreases with respect to feed concentration, in contrast to conventional theories for charged RO membranes. We further show salt partitioning coefficients do not change with applied hydrostatic pressure but are dependent on feed salt concentration. We use non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations to show that these trends are explained by salinity and pressure-induced changes to the structure of the polyamide layer, namely osmotic deswelling and compaction. Changes in the polyamide layer thickness and pore size alter the frictional interactions of ions, affecting membrane performance at larger salinities and pressures. These results provide new insights on how structure-performance relationships affect salt transport at higher pressures.
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institution Kabale University
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language English
publishDate 2024-12-01
publisher Elsevier
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series Journal of Membrane Science Letters
spelling doaj-art-f9a9ac95ece14c69b3cc1af039103a942024-12-07T08:34:53ZengElsevierJournal of Membrane Science Letters2772-42122024-12-0142100079Salt partitioning and transport in polyamide reverse osmosis membranes at ultrahigh pressuresKevin Pataroque0Jishan Wu1Jinlong He2Hanqing Fan3Subhamoy Mahajan4Kevin Guo5Jason Le6Kay Au7Li Wang8Ying Li9Eric M.V. Hoek10Menachem Elimelech11Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8286, USADepartment of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, California, 90095, USADepartment of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706-1572, USADepartment of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8286, USADepartment of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706-1572, USADepartment of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USADepartment of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USADepartment of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USADepartment of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8286, USA; State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, ChinaDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706-1572, USADepartment of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, California, 90095, USA; Energy Storage and Distributed Resources Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA; Corresponding author at: Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, California, 90095, USA. Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8286, USA.Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8286, USA; Corresponding author at: Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, California, 90095, USA. Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8286, USA.Understanding salt and water transport mechanisms in reverse osmosis (RO) under high pressures and salinities is critical to advancing RO-based brine management technologies. In this study, we investigate the dependence of salt permeance and partitioning on feed salinity and applied pressure. Salt partitioning coefficients were determined using a novel high-pressure quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), and salt permeances were collected using a lab-scale high-pressure dead-end cell. Our results show that salt permeance decreases with respect to feed concentration, in contrast to conventional theories for charged RO membranes. We further show salt partitioning coefficients do not change with applied hydrostatic pressure but are dependent on feed salt concentration. We use non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations to show that these trends are explained by salinity and pressure-induced changes to the structure of the polyamide layer, namely osmotic deswelling and compaction. Changes in the polyamide layer thickness and pore size alter the frictional interactions of ions, affecting membrane performance at larger salinities and pressures. These results provide new insights on how structure-performance relationships affect salt transport at higher pressures.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772421224000138High-pressure reverse osmosisSalt transportMembrane compactionSolution-friction modelQuartz crystal microbalance
spellingShingle Kevin Pataroque
Jishan Wu
Jinlong He
Hanqing Fan
Subhamoy Mahajan
Kevin Guo
Jason Le
Kay Au
Li Wang
Ying Li
Eric M.V. Hoek
Menachem Elimelech
Salt partitioning and transport in polyamide reverse osmosis membranes at ultrahigh pressures
Journal of Membrane Science Letters
High-pressure reverse osmosis
Salt transport
Membrane compaction
Solution-friction model
Quartz crystal microbalance
title Salt partitioning and transport in polyamide reverse osmosis membranes at ultrahigh pressures
title_full Salt partitioning and transport in polyamide reverse osmosis membranes at ultrahigh pressures
title_fullStr Salt partitioning and transport in polyamide reverse osmosis membranes at ultrahigh pressures
title_full_unstemmed Salt partitioning and transport in polyamide reverse osmosis membranes at ultrahigh pressures
title_short Salt partitioning and transport in polyamide reverse osmosis membranes at ultrahigh pressures
title_sort salt partitioning and transport in polyamide reverse osmosis membranes at ultrahigh pressures
topic High-pressure reverse osmosis
Salt transport
Membrane compaction
Solution-friction model
Quartz crystal microbalance
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772421224000138
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