Effect of gamma irradiation at intermediate doses on the performance of reverse osmosis membranes

• Irradiation of RO membranes at intermediate dose (0.2 and 0.5 MGy).
• For a dose rate of 0.5 kGy h−1 RO membranes are radiation resistant until 0.2 MGy.
• Cleavages of polymer bonds in the active layer at 0.5 MGy.
• Decrease in permselectivity properties of the membrane at 0.5 MGy.
• High oxygen consumption between 0.2 and 0.5 MGy related to the membranes degradation.

The goal of this study is to explain the degradation of Polyamide (PA) composite reverse osmosis membrane (RO) in function of the irradiation dose. Irradiations were performed with a gamma 60Co source in wet conditions and under oxygen atmosphere. For different doses of 0.2 and 0.5 MGy with a constant dose rate of 0.5 kGy h−1, RO membranes performances (NaCl retention, permeability) were studied before and after irradiation. ATR-FTIR, ion chromatography and gas chromatography were used to characterize structural modification. Results showed that the permeability of RO membranes irradiated at 0.2 MGy exhibited a small decrease, related to scissions of the PVA coating. However, retention did not change at this dose. At 0.5 MGy, permeability showed a large increase of a factor around 2 and retention began to decrease from 99% to 95%. Chromatography measurements revealed a strong link between permselectivity properties variation, ion leakage and oxygen consumption. Add to ATR-FTIR observations, these results emphasized that the cleavages of amide and ester bonds were observed at 0.5 MGy, more precisely the loss of hydrogen bonds between polyamide chains. By different analysis, modifications of the polysulfone layer occur until a dose of 0.2 MGy.