Preparation, characterization and performance evaluations of thin film composite hollow fiber membrane for energy generation

• For the first time the potential of different types of TFC-HFM for PRO is explored.
• Implications of the results for power generation by PRO are evaluated and discussed.
• Effect of MPD, TMC monomer and reaction time on the PRO performance is demonstrated.
• The TFC-HF membranes show enhancements in both water flux and power density.
• An overall comparison and discussion of hollow fiber aspect design are made.

This article analyzes the different types of thin film composite hollow fiber (TFC-HF) membranes and their performance of pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) for power generation. Pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) is an osmotically-driven membrane process that can be used to harvest salinity-gradient power. For the first time, the potential of using different types of TFC-HF membranes for PRO has been explored. Several types of TFC-HF membranes with well-designed substrate structures were prepared. This study systematically investigates the effects of operating conditions and effect of membrane preparation/fabrication conditions such as concentration of monomers like m-phenylenediamine (MPD) and trimesoyl chloride (TMC), effect of reaction times, effect of pressures on the membrane performance using KIER manufactured polyethersulfone (PES) HF membranes as a substrate. The TFC-HF membranes show reasonably high water fluxes under the PRO mode using 0.6 M NaCl as the draw solution and deionized water as the feed solution. Moreover, the surface and skin morphology of the substrate may play an essential role in the formation of the polyamide layer as well as in its perfectness and PRO performance. The implications of the results for power generation by PRO are evaluated and discussed. Our results provide significant implications for PRO scaling control.

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