Anti-Fouling Surface Modification for Longer-Lived Membranes with Constant Fluxes and Selectivities: AFT II

摘要

The research was conducted to explore the feasibility of mitigating the fouling of ultrafiltration (UF) and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes by modification of the membrane surfaces with oriented monomolecular films of fluorinated surfactants. It was concluded that the nature of the polar group of the surfactant and its interaction with the substrate are more important than the degree of fluorination of the surfactant in its ability to decrease fouling. The fluorinated surfactant L-10089 (3M Company) was effective at reducing the fouling propensity of UF and RO membranes. Two polymerizable materials proved to potentiate fouling when nonpolymerized; after polymerization, the membrane surfaces became highly resistant to fouling. Flux, however was reduced virtually to zero.