title: Functionalized thermo-responsive microgels for high performance forward osmosis desalination.
abstract: Stimuli-responsive hydrogels were recently proposed for energy-saving forward osmosis (FO) process. However, their low water flux and dewatering ability for reuse make them less attractive for industrial desalination process. In this work, the co-polymer microgels of N-isopropylacrylamide and acrylic acid with different mixing ratios were synthesized using surfactant-free emulsion polymerization to produce submicron-size hydrogels with high surface area and fast swelling-deswelling response. The microgels were employed as draw agents in a laboratory scale FO desalination system. The microgel-based FO process performed a high water flux up to 23.8 LMH and high water recovery ability of 72.4%. In addition, we explored a new conductivity measurement method to online analyze water flux of the FO system. This on-line conductivity analysis approach appeared to be an accurate and efficient method for evaluating microgel-based FO desalination performance. Our experimental data revealed that the stimuli-responsive microgel was an efficient draw agent for FO desalination.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia.
authors.forename: Yusak
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hartanto
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia.
authors.forename: Seonho
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yun
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia. Electronic address: bo.jin@adelaide.edu.au.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia. Electronic address: s.dai@adelaide.edu.au.
authors.forename: Sheng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dai
mesh_terms: D000178:Acrylamides / Q000737:chemistry*; D000179:Acrylates / Q000737:chemistry*; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D009995:Osmosis; D054712:Salinity; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D000178:Acrylamides; D000179:Acrylates; D020100:Hydrogels; D014867:Water; C067295:N-isopropylacrylamide; C036658:acrylic acid
keywords: Desalination; Dewatering ability; Forward osmosis; Microgels; On-line conductivity; Water flux