Development of composite hollow fibre membranes with strong mechanical strength for pro applications

Abstract

In recent years, growing focus and attention have been placed on the Pressure Retrograde Osmosis process. This is due to the fact that the PRO process possesess great potential as a clean energy-generating process which is able to produce a more steady stream of power and energy as compared to other sources of green energy such as solar and wind which could be used to meet a significant fraction of the world’s growing energy needs.

However, to date, there has yet to be a full-scale power plant which harnesses the PRO process in order to generate energy. This is due to the fact that most of the membranes that are produced for industrial purposes such as Reverse Osmosis and desalination do not meet the stringent requirements to be used effectively in the PRO process.

In summary, the the membrane that should be used to generate the optimal amount of power in the PRO process should possess 2 qualities – good mechanical strength properties and high water flux and power density.

Also, the advantadges that are present in the hollow fibre membrane configuration makes it an attractive alternative to the flat-sheet configuration which is currently the most researched upon in this field.

As such, this report has been prepared in order to characterize and compare between the substrates of 6 different hollow fibre membranes and select the membrane which should be further developed in order to meet the stringent criteria of the PRO process and improve upon existing membranes.