Abstract Polybenzimidazole (PBI) is a chemically and thermally stable polymer, which is being considered for forward osmosis (FO) seawater desalination in regions with high seawater temperatures and salinities. In this work, FO flat sheet membranes were fabricated using non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) method from PBI dope solution incorporated with silica nanoparticles (SNPs) at different concentrations (0, 0.5, 1 and 2 wt%). The influence of draw solution concentration, cross-flow velocity and membrane cell orientation on the performance of pristine PBI and PBI/SNP membranes was examined. Results showed that the performance of the PBI/SNP membranes improved compared to the pristine PBI membrane. Addition of 0.5 wt% of SNPs to PBI membranes (S0.5) reduced the membrane's structural parameter (809.4 μm vs. 1193.2 μm), augmented the tensile strength (31.9 MPa vs. 27.3 MPa), and increased water flux by two folds (16.9 Lm−2 h−1 vs. 7.4 Lm−2 h−1) compared to the pristine PBI membrane (S0). Given the thermal stability of the PBI/SNP membrane along with its improved water permeation performance, the modified membrane offers a promising option for the FO process in hot and arid zones.

中文翻译：

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纳米二氧化硅对正渗透聚苯并咪唑膜脱盐性能的影响

摘要 聚苯并咪唑 (PBI) 是一种化学和热稳定的聚合物，正在考虑用于海水温度和盐度高的地区的正向渗透 (FO) 海水淡化。在这项工作中，FO 平板膜是使用非溶剂诱导相分离 (NIPS) 方法从 PBI 掺杂溶液中制造的，其中掺入了不同浓度 (0、0.5、1 和 2 wt%) 的二氧化硅纳米粒子 (SNP)。检查了汲取溶液浓度、错流速度和膜单元方向对原始 PBI 和 PBI/SNP 膜性能的影响。结果表明，与原始 PBI 膜相比，PBI/SNP 膜的性能有所提高。向 PBI 膜（S0.5）添加 0.5 wt% 的 SNP 降低了膜的结构参数（809.4 μm vs. 1193.2 μm），与原始 PBI 膜 (S0) 相比，增强了拉伸强度（31.9 MPa 对 27.3 MPa），并将水通量增加了两倍（16.9 Lm-2 h-1 对 7.4 Lm-2 h-1）。鉴于 PBI/SNP 膜的热稳定性及其改进的透水性能，改性膜为炎热和干旱地区的 FO 工艺提供了一个有前景的选择。