Development of Hybrid and Templated Silica-P123 Membranes for Brackish Water Desalination

• Published in: Polymers 2020-11, Vol.12 (11), p.2644
• Main Authors: Elma, Muthia, Mujiyanti, Dwi Rasy, Ismail, Noor Maizura, Bilad, Muhammad Roil, Rahma, Aulia, Rahman, Sazila Karina, Fitriani, Fitriani, Rakhman, Arief, Rampun, Erdina Lulu Atika
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2073-4360; 2073-4360
• DOI: 10.3390/polym12112644

Water scarcity is still a pressing issue in many regions. The application of membrane technology through water desalination to convert brackish to potable water is a promising technology to solve this issue. This study compared the performance of templated TEOS-P123 and ES40-P123 hybrid membranes for brackish water desalination. The membranes were prepared by the sol–gel method by employing tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) for the carbon-templated silica (soft template) and ethyl silicate (ES40) for the hybrid organo-silica. Both sols were templated by adding 35 wt.% of pluronic triblock copolymer (P123) as the carbon source. The silica-templated sols were dip-coated onto alumina support (four layers) and were calcined by using the RTP (rapid thermal processing) method. The prepared membranes were tested using pervaporation set up at room temperature (~25 °C) using brackish water (0.3 and 1 wt.%) as the feed. It was found that the hybrid membrane exhibited the highest specific surface area (6.72 m2·g−1), pore size (3.67 nm), and pore volume (0.45 cm3·g−1). The hybrid ES40-P123 was twice thicker (2 μm) than TEOS-P123-templated membranes (1 μm). Lastly, the hybrid ES40-P123 displayed highest water flux of 6.2 kg·m−2·h−1. Both membranes showed excellent robustness and salt rejections of >99%.