Electrodialytic properties of aromatic and aliphatic type hydrocarbon-based anion-exchange membranes with various anion-exchange groups

•Anion-exchange membranes (AEMs) with various membrane structures were prepared.•The prepared aliphatic AEMs show lower fouling than the aromatic ones.•An AEM with lower water content shows more remarkable fouling.•An AEM with longer chain length of the alkyl groups shows more remarkable fouling.

Anion-exchange membranes (AEMs) with various membrane structures were prepared by introducing various amines: trimethylamine (TMA), triethylamine (TEA), tri-n-propylamine (TPA) and tri-n-butylamine (TBA) into precursor membranes prepared from chloromethylstyrene (CMS)-divinylbenzene (DVB) and glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) - DVB. Their properties for ionic transport and anti-organic fouling were examined. Almost all of the prepared AEMs have excellent ionic transport properties: transport number of anions >0.94 and membrane resistance <4 Ωcm2. The voltage change through the AEMs during electrodialysis operation using solutions containing sodium dodecylbenzene-sulfonate as a foulant indicated that there are three cases of fouling mechanism being related to membrane structure: (a) aliphatic AEMs show lower fouling than aromatic ones; (b) the lower the water content of an AEM, the more remarkable the fouling; (c) the longer the chain length of the alkyl groups of the anion-exchange groups of an AEM, the more remarkable the fouling.

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