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Citation
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HERO ID
2007595
Reference Type
Journal Article
Title
Thin-Film Composite Pressure Retarded Osmosis Membranes for Sustainable Power Generation from Salinity Gradients
Author(s)
Yip, NYin; Tiraferri, A; Phillip, WA; Schiffrnan, JD; Hoover, LA; Kim, YuC; Elimelech, M
Year
2011
Is Peer Reviewed?
1
Journal
Environmental Science & Technology
ISSN:
0013-936X
EISSN:
1520-5851
Volume
45
Issue
10
Page Numbers
4360-4369
Language
English
PMID
21491936
DOI
10.1021/es104325z
Web of Science Id
WOS:000290426900029
URL
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/es104325z
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Abstract
Pressure retarded osmosis has the potential to produce renewable energy from natural salinity gradients. This work presents the fabrication of thin-film composite membranes customized for high performance in pressure retarded osmosis. We also present the development of a theoretical model to predict the water flux in pressure retarded osmosis, from which we can predict the power density that can be achieved by a membrane. The model is the first to incorporate external concentration polarization, a performance limiting phenomenon that becomes significant for high-performance membranes. The fabricated membranes consist of a selective polyamide layer formed by interfacial polymerization on top of a polysulfone support layer made by phase separation. The highly porous support layer (structural parameter S = 349 μm), which minimizes internal concentration polarization, allows the transport properties of the active layer to be customized to enhance PRO performance. It is shown that a hand-cast membrane that balances permeability and selectivity (A = 5.81 L m(-2) h(-1) bar(-1), B = 0.88 L m(-2) h(-1)) is projected to achieve the highest potential peak power density of 10.0 W/m(2) for a river water feed solution and seawater draw solution. The outstanding performance of this membrane is attributed to the high water permeability of the active layer, coupled with a moderate salt permeability and the ability of the support layer to suppress the undesirable accumulation of leaked salt in the porous support. Membranes with greater selectivity (i.e., lower salt permeability, B = 0.16 L m(-2) h(-1)) suffered from a lower water permeability (A = 1.74 L m(-2) h(-1) bar(-1)) and would yield a lower peak power density of 6.1 W/m(2), while membranes with a higher permeability and lower selectivity (A = 7.55 L m(-2) h(-1) bar(-1), B = 5.45 L m(-2) h(-1)) performed poorly due to severe reverse salt permeation, resulting in a similar projected peak power density of 6.1 W/m(2).
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