Effect of Surfactants on Reverse Osmosis Membrane Performance

The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance a reverse osmosis (RO) membrane in surfactant removal using various model aqueous solutions. separation tests were performed with laboratory scale units dead-end configuration. Cellulose Acetate (CA) and Polyamide (PA) RO membranes used nonionic, anionic, or cationic surfactants at wide range concentrations. Membrane evaluated permeate flux total organic carbon (TOC) rejection. effects type concentration on assessed. Permeate PA depended concentration. solutions yielded lowest flux, followed by nonionic anionic solutions, respectively. Surfactant adsorption surface occurred very low due electrostatic hydrophobic interactions, respectively, which affected micelles did not affect membrane. However, for CA feed solution. Both exhibited satisfactory TOC rejection (92–99%). This highlights importance assessing interactions between material molecules mitigate fouling guarantee better