Polybenzimidazole (PBI) nanofiltration hollow fiber membranes applied in forward osmosis process

Abstract

By employing the osmosis pressure as a driving force, forward osmosis can operate without high pressures and high temperatures which are necessary in the reverse osmosis and membrane distillation processes. A study on the fabrication of polybenzimidazole (PBI) nanofiltration hollow fiber membrane with desirable mean pore size was carried out. The newly developed PBI membrane exhibits desirable water permeation flux and high rejection to divalent ions. It can be used in the forward osmosis process for water recover and concentrating various feed solutions. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 2007 AIChE Annual Meeting (Salt Lake City, UT 11/4-9/2007).