DEVELOPMENT OF ACID MODIFIED CELLULOSE ACETATE MEMBRANES FOR SALT WATER TREATMENT

The main objective of this work has been to study the performance of membranes developed for water treatment. Polymeric membranes (CTP and CTP-Acid) were developed from solutions containing cellulose acetate (CA), cellulose triacetate (CTA) and polysulfone (PSF), using maleic acid (MA) and acetic acid (AA) as additives and chloroform/dioxane as solvent. The NIPS-type phase inversion method was chosen as the membrane film manufacturing technique. The incorporation of 2.5% and 5% by weight of acids in the membrane mixture allowed us to study the additive effect on the morphological structure, and to predict the performance of the membranes formed. The characterization of the membranes was performed by SEM and FTIR analyses. Examining the flux, permeability and selectivity of the membranes also permitted to study the efficiency and performance of each membrane. The addition of AA and MA additives within the mixture increased the hydrophilic character and improved the flux rate by increasing it from 75 Lm-2h-1 to 142.74 Lm-2h-1 for 5% maleic acid addition. The 5% CTP AA membrane gave very satisfactory results in terms of selectivity, with a maximum removal of 84% of NaCl salt. Therefore, this membrane has been considered to be the most efficient one, with a flux of 120 Lm-2h-1 to 15 bar and a NaCl salt retention that meets the standards required by the World Health Organization (WHO).