Membrane separation plays an important role in water reuse and desalination systems developed to supplement the dwindling global freshwater supplies. A major challenge of membrane process is biofouling. Although strong disinfectants such as chlorine can suppress biofouling, they can also degrade polyamide – the top-most, selective layer in many commercially-available nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes. In this study, we are evaluating a new disinfectant, peracetic acid (PAA), in terms of its polyamide compatibility using quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). Polyamide film was deposited on quartz crystal using molecular layer by layer (mLBL) deposition of trimesoyl chloride (TMC) and m-phenylenediamine (mPD). A film with 15 bi-layers and a thickness of ~ 19.1±1.4 nm was deposited on the silica substrate. The initial results show a significantly small mass loss of polyamide-coated crystals exposed to 1000 ppm of PAA after 20 hours. This is in sharp contrast to the rapid polyamide degradation when exposed to free chorine reported in literature: 20 hours of exposure to 250 ppm hypochlorite solution completely degraded polyamide. Desorption kinetics of polyamide exposed to PAA and monochloramine (NH2Cl), the most common disinfectant used in full-scale advanced treatment systems for potable water reuse, under varying disinfectant concentrations, pH, and in the presence of Fe(II) are being investigated and compared. The findings of this study will generate an understanding of the impact of the disinfectant on polyamide degradation kinetics at molecular-length scales and hence will enable identification and design of an efficient disinfectant for membrane processes.

Assessing polyamide degradation kinetics by peracetic acid and chloramine using quartz crystal microbalance

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.