With inception of FT30-interfacial polyamide chemistry by the late John Cadotte, there has been continued significant interest in the last few decades to improve both energy and separation efficiency for reverse osmosis operations from a membrane chemistry standpoint. However owing to the complex crosslinked nano scale morphological structure of polyamide, development of structure-property relationships has been a challenge. In the last few years, leveraging Dow’s strong analytical capabilities and blending with Dow Water& Process Solution expertise, it has been possible to achieve a true fundamental structure-property relationship of polyamide RO membrane. In depth characterization of polymer composition, morphology, topology and post gel properties coupled with fundamental transport and structural modeling led to a breakthrough in membrane chemistry innovation. The fundamental approach coupled with advanced characterization led to development of several generations of membrane chemistry for applications in industrial, residential, industrial-water and food-beverage market segments. One of the major impact was seen in the industrial market segment where the new innovation resulted in lowering of energy requirement by 30 % and improved the quality of water at the same time by 40 %. The presentation will try to address these innovations and highlight the upcoming technical challenges and opportunities.

How membrane technology contributes to sustainability and life sciences

2019 Spring National Meeting

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