Projects per year
Abstract
A novel thin film nanocomposite (TFN) membrane was obtained by incorporating boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) into a polyamide (PA) thin selective layer prepared via interfacial polymerisation. The addition of just 0.02 wt% of BNNTs led to a 4-fold increase in pure water permeance with no loss in rejection for divalent salts, methylene blue or humic acid compared to the pure PA membrane. Loadings higher than 0.02 wt% of BNNTs led to agglomeration with overall loss of performance. For the membranes containing 0.02 wt% BNNTs, the pure water permeance was 4.5 LMH@bar, with >90% rejection of MgSO4 and >80% rejection of CaCl2. Fouling tests with humic acid showed a flux recovery ratio of >95% with ~50% lower flux loss during the fouling cycle compared to the polyamide only membrane. These values represent a significant improvement over both commercial polyamide membranes and TFN membranes incorporating carbon nanotubes. We assert that the very small quantity of BNNTs needed to produce the enhanced performance opens the way to their use in water treatment applications where nanofiltration membranes are subject to severe organic fouling.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 117749 |
Journal | Journal of Membrane Science |
Volume | 597 |
Early online date | 14 Dec 2019 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Mar 2020 |
Keywords
- Boron nitride nanotubes
- Chemical vapour deposition
- Interfacial polymerisation
- Nanofiltration
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biochemistry
- Materials Science(all)
- Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
- Filtration and Separation
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'High flux thin-film nanocomposites with embedded boron nitride nanotubes for nanofiltration'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 1 Finished
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SynFabFun - From Membrane Material Synthesis to Fabrication and Function
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
1/04/15 → 30/06/21
Project: Research council
Profiles
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John Chew
- Department of Chemical Engineering - Head of Department
- Water Innovation and Research Centre (WIRC)
- Centre for Digital, Manufacturing & Design (dMaDe)
- EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Advanced Automotive Propulsion Systems (AAPS CDT)
- Institute for Advanced Automotive Propulsion Systems (IAAPS)
Person: Research & Teaching, Core staff, Affiliate staff
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Davide Mattia
- Department of Chemical Engineering - Professor
- Faculty of Engineering and Design - Deputy Dean
- Institute for Sustainability
- Centre for Integrated Materials, Processes & Structures (IMPS)
Person: Research & Teaching, Core staff, Affiliate staff
Datasets
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Dataset for ''High Flux Thin-Film Nanocomposites with Embedded Boron Nitride Nanotubes for Nanofiltration''
Casanova, S. (Creator), Liu, T. Y. (Creator), Chew, J. (Creator), Livingston, A. G. (Creator) & Mattia, D. (Creator), University of Bath, 9 Oct 2019
DOI: 10.15125/BATH-00686
Dataset