Tailoring nanocomposite membranes of cellulose acetate/silica nanoparticles for desalination

Herein, the fabrication of cellulose acetate (CA) silica-based nanocomposite membranes via the dry-wet phase inversion procedure for water desalination was investigated. The modified and unmodified silica nanoparticles (MSNPs and SNPs) were prepared by the sol-gel technique. The effect of the SNPs and MSNPs was investigated on the CA membrane's properties and their performance for water desalination. The CA nanocomposite membranes were characterized to study their structure, hydrophilicity, and morphology. The fabricated nanocomposite membranes showed hydrophilic surface properties. The performance of reverse osmosis (RO) membranes was measured using a crossflow RO unit at 10 bar (1 bar = 0.1 MPa). The membrane with 10 mg of SNPs enhanced permeate water flux compared to the pristine CA membrane by 1.6 L/(m2·h). The effect of MSNPs on the nanocomposites' performance was lower than their counterpart in the case of adding SNPs. The membrane with 30 mg of MSNPs showed the highest permeate water flux among other nanocomposite membranes with a value of 35.7 L/(m2·h) at 24 bar.