The availability of clean potable water is already one of the biggest problems mankind faces. Membrane technologies for the removal of various contaminants are available and have been optimised for years. However, not until recently, biobased or renewable membranes capable of rejecting nano-sized contaminants were realized. In previous studies we have demonstrated the suitability of nanocellulose papers for organic solvent nanofiltration and aqueous ultrafiltration without prior modification or dissolution, thus rendering them environmentally friendly. A main result was that a thin membrane layer of nanocellulose was most effective. This facilitated the use of nanocellulose coatings for membranes or other applications to become industrially relevant.<br/>However, one of the main drawbacks when using nanocellulose industrially is the fact that it needs to be used in diluted suspension to achieve a homogeneous distribution of the nanocellulose fibrils. The fraction of water in these suspensions is usually higher than 99 wt.%. After coating, a drying step is required, where very large amounts of water need to be evaporated. Furthermore, one of the main challenges when using tight nanocellulosic structures in membranes is to achieve a high flux while maintaining a high retention.<br/>In this study, we explored the potential of using nanocellulose foams as coating for cellulose based textiles, for the use as water filtration membranes. It was the aim to enable higher flux than obtained with traditional cast coating with a faster, energy efficient process. Moreover, we studied the effect of utilizing coatings with charged CNF on the retention of ions.

Energy efficient nanocellulose foam coating on cellulosic textiles for water filtration membranes

2019 Spring National Meeting

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