Student: Tejaswi Nori
Committee: Dr. Matthew Green & Dr. Mary Laura Lind
Abstract:
Commercial processes such as Seawater Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) have been employed to fill the gaps left by dwindling freshwater resources, but these processes are far from being perfect. Reverse Osmosis Brine, a concentrated salt solution which is a by-product of SWRO can be further purified using processes such as pervaporation, but membranes used in these processes are still susceptible to fouling. Incorporating zwitterions into the backbone of a polymer has been proven as an effective way to increase fouling resistance. This work involves the incorporation of sulfobetaine – based zwitterions into the backbone of polysulfone, specifically poly(arylene ether sulfone), a polymer with high thermal and mechanical stability, to synthesize sulfobetaine-modified poly(arylene ether sulfone) (SB-PAES) membranes.
The SB-PAES membranes were tested in a cross-flow pervaporation setup with two different feed solutions: pure water and salt solutions with three different concentrations – 1 g/L, 5 g/L and 10 g/L. The pure water permeance of SB-PAES membrane with 50% charge content was found to be 3.4 L/ m2 . h . bar with salt rejection percentages of 99.14%, 99.82% and 99.91% for feed concentrations of 1 g/L, 5 g/L and 10 g/L respectively.
Zoom Room: https://asu.zoom.us/j/2892745829
Presentation Time: 12:00-1:00 PM (Arizona Time)
