Exploration of polyelectrolyte incorporated with Triton-X 114 surfactant based osmotic agent for forward osmosis desalination. (1st March 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ray, Saikat Sinha; Chen, Shiao Shing; Nguyen, Nguyen Cong; Nguyen, Hau Thi; Dan, Nguyen Phuoc; Thanh, Bui Xuan; Trang, Le Thuy
• Is Part Of: Journal of environmental management. Volume 209(2018)
• Page Start: 346
• Page End: 353
• Publication Date: 2018-03-01
• Subjects: Osmotic agent -- Forward osmosis -- Membrane distillation -- Poly(propylene) glycol-725 -- Triton X-114; Environmental policy -- Periodicals; Environmental management -- Periodicals; Environment -- Periodicals; Ecology -- Periodicals; 363.705
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.12.086
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0301-4797

Abstract

Abstract: Selection of a proper osmotic agent is important to make the forward osmosis (FO) feasible. The objective of this study was to enhance FO by lowering reverse solute flux and maintaining high water flux. Poly(propylene glycol) with molecular weight of 725 Da (PPG-725) was found to possess high osmolality, making it a strong candidate for using as a draw agent. In addition, to reduce the partial leakage of draw solute, a non-ionic surfactant (Triton X-114) has been incorporated. Typically, when the hydrophobic tails of Triton X-114 interacted with the membrane surface, a layer on the surface of membrane is produced to constrict the pores and thus minimize the reverse solute flux. In this study, different concentrations of PPG-725 incorporated with different concentrations of Triton X-114 (0.2–0.8 mM) were used to evaluate their osmotic potentials as draw solute. The specific reverse solute flux (Js /Jw ) of 40% PPG-725 doped with Triton X-114 was found to be 0.01 g/L, considerably much lesser than the conventional inorganic draw agents. Finally, membrane distillation operation was utilized as the recovery system in which solute rejection of 97% was achieved for 40% PPG-725/Triton X-114. Therefore, the overall performance supported PPG-725/Triton X-114 as being an efficient draw agent for forward osmosis-membrane distillation hybrid process. Graphical abstract: Image 1 Highlights: Polypropylene glycol incorporated with triton X-114 is identified as a novel and reusable osmotic agent possess high osmolality. Polypropylene glycol −725 is found to be less toxic because of its high LD50. Forward osmosis performance indicates a very low specific reverse solute flux. Recovery of the draw solution is achieved by thermally driven membrane distillation technique.