title: New RO TFC Membranes by Interfacial Polymerization in n-Dodecane with Various co-Solvents.
abstract: The objective of this research is to prepare and characterize a new and highly efficient polyamide TFC RO membrane by interfacial polymerization in dodecane solvent mixed with co-solvents. Three co-solvents were tested namely; acetone, ethyl acetate, and diethyl ether of concentration of 0.5, 1, 2, 3, and 5 wt %. The modified membranes were characterized by SEM, EDX, AFM and contact angle techniques. The results showed that addition of co-solvent results in a decrease in the roughness, pore size and thickness of the produced membranes. However, as the concentration of the co-solvent increases the pore size of the membranes gets larger. Among the three co-solvents tested, acetone was found to result in membranes with the largest pore size and contact angle followed by diethyl ether then ethyl acetate. Measured contact angle increases as the concentration of the co-solvent increases reaching a constant value except for ethyl acetate where it was found to drop. Investigating flux and salt rejection by the formulated membranes showed that higher flux was attained when acetone was used as a co-solvent followed by diethyl ether then ethyl acetate. However, the highest salt rejection was achieved with diethyl ether.
authors.affiliation: Nuclear Science Research Institute, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), P.O. Box 6086, Riyadh 11442, Saudi Arabia. ahobaib@kacst.edu.sa.
authors.forename: Abdullah Sulaiman
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Al-Hobaib
authors.affiliation: Nuclear Science Research Institute, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), P.O. Box 6086, Riyadh 11442, Saudi Arabia. sohybani@kacst.edu.sa.
authors.forename: Mohammed Sulaiman
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Al-Suhybani
authors.affiliation: Nuclear Science Research Institute, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), P.O. Box 6086, Riyadh 11442, Saudi Arabia. ksheetan@kacst.edu.sa.
authors.forename: Khalid Mohammed
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Al-Sheetan
authors.affiliation: Department of Petroleum and Chemical Engineering, Sultan Qaboos University, P.O. Box 33, Muscat 123, Oman. hasana@squ.edu.om.|Department of Chemical Engineering, Jordan University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 3030, Irbid 22110, Jordan. hasana@squ.edu.om.
authors.forename: Hasan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mousa
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, College of Sciences, King Saud University (KSU), P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia. rafiskm@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Mohammed Rafi
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Shaik
keywords: RO membrane; co-solvent; desalination; interfacial polymerization