Thin Film Biocomposite Membrane for Forward Osmosis Supported by Eggshell Membrane

Abstract

There is a general drive to adopt highly porous and less tortuous supports for forward osmosis (FO) membranes to reduce internal concentration polarization (ICP), which regulates the osmotic water permeation. As an abundant waste material, eggshell membrane (ESM) has a highly porous and fibrous structure that meets the requirements for FO membrane substrates. In this study, a polyamide-based biocomposite FO membrane was fabricated by exploiting ESM as a membrane support. The polyamide layer was deposited by the interfacial polymerization technique and the composite membrane exhibited osmotically driven water flux. Further, biocomposite FO membranes were developed by surface coating with GO for stable formation of the polyamide layer. Finally, the osmotic water flux of the eggshell composite membrane with a low structural parameter (~138 µm) reached 46.19 L m−2 h−1 in FO mode using 2 M NaCl draw solution.

Forward Osmosis Membrane: Review of Fabrication, Modification, Challenges and Potential

“…Now with FO limitations requiring the replacement of membranes after a certain amount of time, we are pleased to provide future solutions to these limitations and thus become new research directions. To create FO membranes that are more effective, reliable, and affordable, future research should concentrate on: (I) scaling up the manufacture of eco-friendly membranes, (II) lowering the cost of the membrane materials by utilizing material residue (e.g., eggshells [193]) and green solvents (e.g., dihydrolevoglucosenone [194], ionic liquids [195]), and (III) adding novel sustainable nanomaterials in a substrate and/or the thin selective layer (e.g., carbon quantum dots [196], graphene quantum dots [197]). Although there is little information on the conversion of FO membranes into sustainable membranes, future development of FO membranes should take into account these sustainable materials.…”