Modifying thin-film composite forward osmosis membranes using various SiO2 nanoparticles for aquaculture wastewater recovery

Truc-Quynh Nguyen; Kuo-Lun Tung; Yi-Li Lin; Cheng-Di Dong; Chiu-Wen Chen; Chung-Hsin Wu

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.130796

Modifying thin-film composite forward osmosis membranes using various SiO₂ nanoparticles for aquaculture wastewater recovery

Chemosphere. 2021 Oct:281:130796. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.130796. Epub 2021 May 18.

Authors

Truc-Quynh Nguyen¹, Kuo-Lun Tung², Yi-Li Lin³, Cheng-Di Dong⁴, Chiu-Wen Chen⁴, Chung-Hsin Wu⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Safety Health and Environmental Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung, 824, Taiwan; Department of Forestry and Environmental Engineering, South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences, Mikkeli, 50100, Finland.
² Department of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 106, Taiwan.
³ Department of Safety Health and Environmental Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung, 824, Taiwan. Electronic address: yililin@nkust.edu.tw.
⁴ Department of Marine Environmental Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung, 81157, Taiwan.
⁵ Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung, 80,778, Taiwan.

PMID: 34289641
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.130796

Abstract

This paper describes the fabrication, modification, and evaluation of the performance of thin-film composite (TFC) forward osmosis (FO) membranes for lab-scale aquaculture wastewater recovery using various fumed silica (SiO₂) nanoparticles. The active polyamide (PA) layers of these membranes were novelly modified using different types of pretreated SiO₂ nanoparticles [virgin SiO₂, dried SiO₂, and 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES)-modified SiO₂] and concentrations (0.05, 0,1, 0,2, and 0.4 wt%) to improve the membrane hydrophilicity with minimum particle agglomeration. Results show that the APTES-SiO₂ modified membrane had the highest water flux and selectivity, followed by the dried-SiO₂ modified membrane. The APTES coupling agent notably reduced the SiO₂ aggregation on the membrane surface and improved membrane hydrophilicity. Consequently, high permeate flux and an acceptable reverse solute flux were observed. The optimal SiO₂ concentration for PA modification was 0.1 wt% for all the nanoparticle types. The virgin and APTES-SiO₂ modified membranes were used for aquaculture wastewater recovery. The water recovery rate reached 47% in 84 h when using the APTES-SiO₂ modified membrane, while it reached only 26% in 108 h when using the virgin membrane. With a suitable design of the filtration apparatus and choice of draw solution (DS), the prepared novel TFC-FO membrane containing APTES-modified SiO₂ can be used for recycling aquaculture wastewater into the DS, which can then be reused for other purposes.

Keywords: Forward osmosis (FO); Polyamide (PA) modification; Silica nanoparticles; Thin-film composite (TFC) membrane; Water recovery.

MeSH terms

Aquaculture
Membranes, Artificial
Nanoparticles*
Osmosis
Silicon Dioxide
Wastewater
Water Purification*

Substances

Membranes, Artificial
Waste Water
Silicon Dioxide