Novel high-flux polyamide/TiO2 composite nanofiltration membranes on ceramic hollow fibre substrates

Novel polyamide/TiO2 composite nanofiltration (NF) membranes were fabricated by interfacial polymerization of polyethyleneimine and trimesoyl chloride on TiO2-sol-modified ceramic hollow fibre microfiltration substrates. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and dynamic contact angle measurements were utilised to characterise the chemical structures and morphologies of the prepared membranes. The effects of monomer concentration, reaction time, and immersion time in the aqueous phase were thoroughly investigated in this study. The composite NF membrane prepared under optimised conditions exhibited a high pure water flux (PWF) of 105.5 L m−2 h−1 and MgCl2 rejection of 95.5% at 4 bar. In addition, the membrane had excellent antifouling properties with high permeate recovery and low flux decline for bovine serum albumin and humic acid. During a 168 h long-run test, the membrane maintained a high PWF (> 100.0 L m−2 h−1) and high MgCl2 rejection (> 95.0%).