Development and Fabrication of Thin Film Composite (TFC) Membranes for Engineered Osmosis Processes

Abstract

Engineered osmosis processes have gained rapid interest in recent years and they might become a potential solution for the world?s most challenging problems of water and energy scarcity. The concept of utilizing osmotic pressure difference between two water streams across semipermeable membranes has been explored for several decades, however, the lack of optimal membranes and draw solutions still hinder competition between forward osmosis (FO) and pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) with existing water purification and power generation technologies, respectively. This thesis is focused on the development of novel materials and fabrication methods for preparing effective FO membranes for clean water production and PRO membranes for renewable osmotic energy generation. High performance flat-sheet and hollow fiber osmotic membranes have been successfully developed and the structure-property relationships of materials, membrane formation mechanism, membrane morphology, membrane configuration, and membrane treatments have been systematically investigated.