Influence of silica nanoparticles on the desalination performance of forward osmosis polybenzimidazole membranes

Polybenzimidazoles (PBIs) and state-of-the-art PBI hollow fiber membranes for water, organic solvent and gas separations: a review

“…PBI based HFMs have also been explored in (1) forward osmosis (FO) for water reclamation 151,192–194 and protein concentration, 152 (2) pressure-retarded osmosis process (PRO) for power generation 139,195,196 and (3) organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN). Among them, PBI membranes for OSN have received most attention because most FO and PRO processes do not involve harsh environmental and testing conditions.…”

A Comprehensive Review on Forward Osmosis Water Treatment: Recent Advances and Prospects of Membranes and Draw Solutes

“…WF: 16.9 L/m 2 •h (twofold higher than the pristine PBI (about 7.4 L/m 2 •h)). [123] Wang et al [116] first investigated the potential of the PBI NF membranes for FO. The main reasons for choosing PBI for FO were its excellent NF properties, high mechanical strength, and unique chemical stability.…”

“…However, the thermal stability of the above-mentioned membranes was less than satisfactory. Daer et al [123] prepared flat-sheet FO membranes by phase separation from PBI-doped solutions with different loadings (0, 0.5, 1, and 2 wt.%) of silica nanoparticles. The addition of the silica nanoparticles to the PBI membranes reduced their structural parameters, augmented their tensile strength, and doubled their water flux (16.9 L/m 2 •h) compared to a PBI membrane control group (7.4 L/m 2 •h) (testing conditions: 2 M NaCl draw solution; deionized water feed solution; cross-flow velocity, 2 cm/s; the active layer facing the draw solution).…”

Employing the synergistic effect between aquaporin nanostructures and graphene oxide for enhanced separation performance of thin-film nanocomposite forward osmosis membranes

“…Over the recent years, membrane separation operations have been recognized as a potential alternative to traditional processes owing to the possible benefits of their excellent separation efficiencies, and lower operating and capital costs [1][2][3][4]. Since membrane processes that are osmotically-driven like forward osmosis (FO) possess higher water recovery and lower fouling tendency as opposed to pressure-driven membrane processes like reverse osmosis (RO), they have been intensely investigated for wastewater treatment [5], brine dilution [6], food processing [7] and resource recovery [8].…”

“…Since first reported by Hoek's group in 2017 [17], various nanomaterials like zeolites [18], carbon nanotubes [19], graphene oxide (GO) [20,21], graphene quantum dots [22,23], silica [4,24], covalent/metal-organic frameworks [25,26] and titanium oxide [27] have been heavily studied for altering the membrane characteristics and performance depending on the physical and chemical properties of the embedded nanomaterial. For instance, porous nanomaterial like zeolites act as molecular sieves for size-selective separation of molecules and are suitable for pervaporation and gas separation [28]; whereas, two-dimensional GO flakes have been widely used to improve the membrane hydrophilicity, antifouling and antimicrobial properties for desalination and wastewater treatment [29][30][31].…”