Preparation and characterization of a novel emphatically charged strengthened chitosan composite nanofiltration membrane

¹ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Yingkou Institute of Technology, Yingkou, China.
² Avic Sino (Yingkou) high-tech Co., Ltd., Yingkou, China.
³ Foreign Language Teaching and Research Department, Yingkou Institute of Technology, Yingkou, China.

^* Corresponding author: mutao@yklg.edu.cn

Abstract

In this paper, chitosan was grafted with acrylic acid and positively charged elements, and a series of reinforced nanofiltration membranes were prepared by coating modified chitosan polymer with polysulfone ultrafiltration membrane as support. The structure of chitosan derivatives and polymers was characterized by infrared spectrum, and the membrane structure was characterized by scanning electron microscope and atomic force microscope. The performance of composite nanofiltration membrane was closely related to the structure of polymer and the electrical properties of positively charged elements. The rejection rate of 50% molar ratio composite nanofiltration membrane to CaCl2 reached 97.4%. The corresponding flux is 430.7 Lm-2h-1. The retention order was: CaCl2 > NaCl > Na2SO4. The tensile strength increased by 27.3%. Acid resistance (5%HCl)) was improved by 50.5%. Alkali resistance (5%NaOH) increased by 42.2%. The results showed that the positive charge enhanced chitosan composite nanofiltration membrane had excellent performance. The charge effect had no effect on NaCl and Na2SO4, but had significant effect on CaCl2. The membrane is a typical positive charged nanofiltration membrane suitable for separating high-valent cations from weak acids or weak bases.