Abstract
Membrane technology is an energy-efficient and environmentally friendly water filtration method. However, the lack of permeability and selectivity efficiency under harsh environments obstructs water treatment applications, raising the separation process cost on a wide scale. The current study is based on the abovementioned concerns. We found that a thin film was formed directly on tubular ceramic membranes using interfacial polymerization without an intermediary layer. A Zn-metal organic framework (Zn-MOF)-based polyamide thin-film nanocomposite was deposited on the inner surface of a tubular ceramic substrate by circulating the monomers. The synthesised Zn-MOF nanofillers are characterised according to their pore volume and surface areas using the Brunauer Emmett Teller technique. Furthermore, the developed membranes are examined using microscopy and various spectroscopic techniques; their structural morphology, zeta potential, porosity, and contact angles are presented. The findings of the characterisation revealed that Zn-MOF attach strongly to polyamide and influence the membrane’s surface characteristics. Thereby, the resulting Zn-MOF/polyamide thin-film nanocomposite ceramic membrane demonstrated excellent desalination pretreatment performance with a pure water permeability of 26 ± 0.7 LMH bar
−1
with a rejection of approximately 90% towards sodium sulfate salt and maintained high rejections at an enhanced temperature of 85 °C. Furthermore, the Zn-MOFs/polyamide thin-film nanocomposite was well integrated with the tubular ceramic substrate and was able to maintain a chlorine resistance of 2000 mg/L NaClO solution for 360 h. This study proposes a new technique for developing high-performance Zn-MOF/polyamide thin-film nanocomposite ceramic membranes using high-aspect-ratio Zn-MOF nanofillers for desalination pretreatment of water under the most challenging conditions.
Graphical Abstract