Preparation of thermally stable composite forward osmosis hollow fiber membranes based on copoly(phthalazinone biphenyl ether sulfone) substrates

•Novel composite FO hollow fiber membranes were developed via interfacial polymerization.•Composite FO membranes were prepared from PPBES hollow fiber membranes as substrates.•Effect of IP preparation conditions on the membrane performance was investigated.•The novel PPBES composite FO membranes exhibited excellent thermal stability.

A series of composite forward osmosis (FO) hollow fiber membranes were developed using interfacial polymerization (IP) on the lumen side of copoly(phthalazinone biphenyl ether sulfone) (PPBES) substrates. The effect of the PPBES substrate and IP preparation conditions on composite FO membranes performance was evaluated. Water flux of the FO membranes increased with an increase in flux of PPBES substrates. The IP preparation parameters such as solvents, monomer concentrations, reaction time, and curing conditions had a great influence on the properties of composite FO membranes. The novel PPBES composite FO hollow fiber membranes exhibited high thermal stability. The water flux of composite FO membranes improved from 24.0 L/m2 h to 66.5 L/m2 h without significant change of JS/JV ratio when the draw solution temperature was elevated from 23 °C to 85 °C.

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