Evaluation of the Forward Osmosis Performance of Cellulose Acetate Nanocomposite Membranes

The polydopamine-modified halloysite nanotubes (DHNT) were synthesized for the improved dispersion in CA membrane matrix to obtain a CA-DHNT mixed matrix forward osmosis (FO) membranes. The FO membranes were characterized by Raman spectroscopy, porosity measurement, and contact angle study. The altered viscosities of the dope solutions with different concentrations of DHNT were measured and its effect on resultant FO membrane morphological features was studied. The CA-DHNT hybrid membranes produced high water permeation and low salt permeability owing to their high hydrophilicity, dense top layers, and due to the formation of a more sponge-like structures in their cross sections. The loading of 0.5 wt% of DHNTs was optimized composition for the loading and the same membrane witnessed a maximum of 16L/m2h\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$16\,\,\hbox {L}/\hbox {m}^{2}\hbox {h}$$\end{document} FO water flux and performed better than commercial HTI FO membrane. This study demonstrated the competent nature of DHNTs toward the fabrication of potential FO membranes with least salt permeability and high water permeation properties.