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Development of titanium dioxide incorporated ultrathin cellulose acetate membrane for enhanced forward osmosis performance

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Abstract

This study was conducted to develop ultrathin forward osmosis (FO) membrane by phase inversion process. Hydrophilic cellulose acetate (CA) polymer and titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles were used to form a highly water permeable and stable FO membrane. The physical characteristics of prepared nanomaterial and membrane were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, elemental mapping and x-ray diffraction. The FO performance of the developed membrane was evaluated in terms of pure osmotic water flux and reverse salt flux. A consistent water flux was observed during a long-term experiment with the help of the fabricated membrane. Average water flux of 33.63 L/m2/h and reverse salt flux of 10.34 g/m2/h were achieved due to extensive hydrogen bonding between cellulose ester and titania particles. The resultant membrane was found to be highly efficient in terms of FO performance and can be utilized for efficient desalinization of water.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, New Delhi, India (Grant No. ECR/2016/001668).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Amity Institute of Environmental Sciences, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Sector-125, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, 201313, India

    Harshita Jain, Renu Dhupper & Manoj Chandra Garg

  2. School of Energy and Environment, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, Punjab, 147005, India

    Anoop Kumar Verma

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  1. Harshita Jain
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  2. Renu Dhupper
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  3. Anoop Kumar Verma
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  4. Manoj Chandra Garg
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Correspondence to Manoj Chandra Garg.

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Jain, H., Dhupper, R., Verma, A.K. et al. Development of titanium dioxide incorporated ultrathin cellulose acetate membrane for enhanced forward osmosis performance. Nanotechnol. Environ. Eng. 6, 67 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41204-021-00161-w

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