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 XII Maghreb Days of Material Sciences IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 186 (2017) 012039 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/186/1/012039

International Conference on Recent Trends in Physics 2016 (ICRTP2016) IOP Publishing

Journal of Physics: Conference Series 755 (2016) 011001 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/755/1/011001

Performances of nanofiltration and low pressure reverse

osmosis membranes for desalination: characterization and
modelling

Y A Boussouga and A Lhassani

Laboratory of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology-Fez,
Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, P.O. Box 2202, Fez, Morocco

Email: boussouga.youssef@gmail.com

Abstract. The nanofiltration and the reverse osmosis processes are the most common
techniques for the desalination of water contaminated by an excess of salts. In this present
study, we were interested in the characterization of commercial, composite and asymmetric
membranes of nanofiltration (NF90, NF270) and low pressure reverse osmosis (BW30LE).
The two types of characterization that we opted for our study: (i) characterization of electrical
proprieties, in terms of the surface charge of various membranes studied by the measurement
of the streaming potential, (ii) hydrodynamic characterization in terms of hydraulic
permeability with pure water, mass transfer and phenomenological parameters for each system
membrane/salt using hydrodynamic approaches. The irreversible thermodynamics allowed us
to model the observed retention Robs of salts (NaCl and Na2SO4) for the different membranes
studied, to understand and to predict a good filtration with a membrane. A study was conducted
on the type of mass transfer for each system membrane/salt: convection and diffusion. The
results showed that all tested membranes are negatively charged for the solutions at neutral pH,
this is explained by their material composition. The results also showed competitiveness
between the different types of membranes. In view of that the NF remains effective in terms of
selective retention with less energy consumption than LPRO.
Keywords: membrane, nanofiltration, reverse osmosis, streaming potential, mass transfer

1. Introduction
The nanofiltration and the reverse osmosis are the most used techniques for water desalination. The
NF membrane is a type of pressure-driven membrane which properties are situated between reverse
osmosis (RO) and ultrafiltration (UF) membranes. This positioning of this type of membrane offers
advantages, in terms of, low operational pressure, high flux, high retention of multivalent anion salts,
relatively low investment and low operation and maintenance costs [1-2].
In order to understand the functioning of membranes, and to make the choice of a membrane for a
given application, we have developed two types of characterizations: first (i) characterization of
electrical proprieties, in terms of streaming potential and secondly (ii) hydrodynamic characterization,
in terms of, the hydraulic permeability, the salts retention, type of mass transfer (diffusion and/or
convection).

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 XII Maghreb Days of Material Sciences IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 186 (2017) 012039 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/186/1/012039

In this present study, we were interested in the characterization of commercial, composite and
asymmetric membranes of nanofiltration (NF270 and NF90) and low pressure reverse
osmosis(BW30LE). The composition of the active layer for these membranes is in polyamide, and the
support layer is made of polysulfone (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Structure of organic composite membranes studied

2. Theory

2.1. Streaming potential

The membrane charge into contact with an aqueous electrolyte solution can be determined by the
measurement of the streaming potential SP which can be linked to the zeta potential by the equation
[3-4-5-6-7]:
 
SP  
P  (1)
With ∆ϕ is trans-membrane potential difference; ∆P is the trans-membrane pressure; ε is the
permeability; ζis the zeta Potential; μ is the dynamic viscosity and is χ he ionic conductivity of the
electrolyte solution.

2.2. Hydrodynamic approaches

This approach is based on the irreversible thermodynamics processes [8-9-10]. The equations describe
the relationship between the solvent flux and the solute flux which cross through a RO/NF membrane:
J v  Lp (P   ) (2)

J s  Ps (Cm  C p )  (1   ) J vCm (3)

Where Jv and Js are respectively the solvent flux and the solute flux, ∆P and ∆π define respectively the
pressure and osmotic differences between each side of the membrane, Lp is the hydraulic permeability
to pure water, σ is the reflection coefficient, Ps is the solute permeability, and the Cm with Cp the
concentrations respectively at the surface of the membrane in the bulk side and in the permeate.
The observed rejection as reported by some authors may be expressed as [11-12-13-14]:
1
Robs  (4)
J 
(1   ) exp  v 
 k  1
  1     
 1  exp   J v  
  P s 
Where, k is the mass transfer coefficient.

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 XII Maghreb Days of Material Sciences IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 186 (2017) 012039 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/186/1/012039

2.3. Diffusion and convection of salts

In Equation 3, the total flow of salts appears as the sum of diffusion and convection terms [15-16-17].
Thus, it’s possible to write the following equation:
1
C p  J diff  Cconv (5)
Jv

3. Materials and methods

3.1. Streaming potential measurements

The cell is a dead-end cell which has a capacity of 50 ml and used with a flat-sheet membrane. The
unit operates at pressure differences using pressurized nitrogen gas as a driving force. Figure 2 shows
a schematic representation of the cell which is useful to support membrane samples for the streaming
potential measurements.

Figure 2. Schematic representation of the SP

measurement device.

3.2. Laboratory scale filtration unit

A flat sheet laboratory scale NF/RO setup consisting of a planar cross flow module, with a membrane
area of 138 cm2.The total volume of the system was 5 L. A schematic representation of the equipment
is illustrated in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Schematic representation of NF/RO filtration assembly.

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 XII Maghreb Days of Material Sciences IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 186 (2017) 012039 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/186/1/012039

4. Results and discussion

4.1. Characterization of electrical proprieties

As shown in Figure 4, the experience consists to measure the coefficient of streaming potential SP in
function of pH.

10

0
SP (mV/bar)

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

-10

pH
-20

Figure 4. Streaming potential as a function of pH; KCl10-3 M;

NF270, NF90 and BW30LE membranes.

In the case of the organic membrane made in polyamide membrane, the amphoteric character of the
amino groups of the membrane surface reveals a positive value or a negative value of the streaming
potential coefficient SP, according to the pH value [18]. The isoelectric point IEP is the pH value in
which the streaming potential coefficient cancels.

Table 1. Streaming potential (SP) and isoelectric point (IEP) of the NF and LPRO membranes.
NF/LPRO NF270 NF90 BW30LE
Charge (neutral pH) Negative Negative Negative
-3
SP (mV/bar)(KCl 10 M; pH =6.6) -9.4 -6.2 -5.2
IEP (KCl 10-3M) 2.6 4.4 4.9

4.2. Hydrodynamic characterization

4.2.1. The hydraulic permeability. The permeability with ultra-pure water (1μs/cm)Lp of investigated
membranes is showed in Figure 5.

Table 2.Values of pure water permeability of the NF and LPRO membranes.

NF/LPRO NF270 NF90 BW30LE

Lp (10-6 m.s-1.bar-1) 1.52 1.23 1.14

The high permeability characteristic generally indicates a high porosity [12];this is what is observed in
the results of the permeability in Table 2which means that NF270 has the highest porosity and
provides a higher permeate flow than NF90 and BW30LE.

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 XII Maghreb Days of Material Sciences IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 186 (2017) 012039 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/186/1/012039

y = 1,52E-06x
3,00E-05 R² = 0,998 100,0%
NF270
2,50E-05 NF90 y = 1,23E-06x
R² = 0,996 80,0%
BW30LE

Retention (%)
2,00E-05
Jv (m/s)

y = 1,14E-06x 60,0%
R² = 0,997
1,50E-05
40,0%
1,00E-05

5,00E-06 20,0%

0,00E+00 0,0%
0 10 20 0 5 10 15 20
Pressure (bar)
Flux Jv (E-06 m/s)

Figure 5.Pure water flux as a function of the Figure 6. Evolution of NaCl salts retention
applied pressure for the NF and LPRO as a function of the permeate flow for
membranes (T = 25°C, pH =6.6). NF/LPRO.

4.2.2. Modelling of salts retention. As shown in Table 3, the retention of divalent salts Na2SO4 is
higher than monovalent salts NaCl for both type of membrane, this phenomenon can be explained by
the hydration energy of salts [6]. The retention of both salts is also dependent of the porosity for each
membrane. The experimental data of rejection and flux for all investigated membranes and salts were
fitted using the best fit values of Ps and σ obtained according to Equation 4.In Figure 6, the modelling
showed us that there is a good agreement between experimental and theoretical results. The reflection
coefficient σ is a characteristic of the convective transport of the solute [13]. For σ value of 100% (or
1), mass transfer by convection is totally hindered, it’s the case of BW30LE with both salts and NF90
with Na2SO4 only (Table 4).The results of the permeability of salts Ps decreases initially with the
decrease of the pore size of a membrane [19]. The decrease of Ps can also due to the increase of a salt
size (or hydration energy of a salt).

Table 3. Retention of NaCl and Na2SO4 salts at three pressures and 10-3M of concentration
for the NF and LPRO membranes.
%Robs of Salts (10-3 M)
NF/LPRO NaCl Na2SO4
P = 4 bar P = 8 bar P = 12 bar P = 4 bar P = 8 bar P = 12 bar
NF270 28.0 38 45.2 90.1 93.3 95.4
NF90 30 45.9 61 93.8 95.4 96.8
BW30LE 74 80.5 85.3 94.2 95.7 98

Table 4. Phenomenological parameters and mass transfer parameters estimated for NF and LPRO
membranes for NaCl and Na2SO4.
Salts (10-3 M)
NaCl Na2SO4
NF/LPRO
Ps Cconv Jdiff Ps Cconv(g.L- Jdiff
σ σ
(10-6 m.s-1) (g.L-1) (10-6m.s-1) -6 -1
(10 m.s ) 1
) (10-6m.s-1)
NF270 0.53 6.26 0.0252 0.1165 0.96 0.343 0.0054 0.0333
NF90 0.87 9,62 0.0182 0.0971 0.98 0.139 0.0018 0.0198
BW30LE 0.98 0.525 0.0023 0.0250 0.99 0.111 0.0019 0.0131

4.2.3. Type of mass transfer. In Figure 7 and Figure 8 the plot of Cp vs. 1/Jv is linear and the
coefficient of determination R² is very near to 1which is confirming the relation of Equation 5.

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 XII Maghreb Days of Material Sciences IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 186 (2017) 012039 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/186/1/012039

y = 0,1104x + 0,026
0,05 R² = 0,99 0,05
NF270
NF90
y = 0,0971x + 0,0182 BW30LE
0,04 R² = 0,98 0,04
Cp (g.L-1)

Cp (g.L-1)
0,03 0,03

y = 0,025x + 0,0023 y = 0,033x + 0,005

R² = 0,98 R² = 0,987
0,02 0,02
y = 0,019x + 0,001
R² = 0,995

0,01 NF270 0,01

NF90 y = 0,013x + 0,001
R² = 0,977
BW30LE
0 0
0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8

1/Jv (106 s.m-1) 1/Jv (106 s.m-1)

Figure 7. Permeate concentration Cp Figure 8. Permeate concentration Cp

evolution as a function of the ratio 1/Jv for NF evolution as a function of the ratio 1/J v for NF
and LPRO membranes; ([NaCl]=10-3 M; pH = and LPRO membranes; ([Na2SO4]=10-3M; pH
6.8; *Y = 5%; T = 24°C). = 6.8; *Y=5%; T=24°C).

*Y: Conversion rate (Y% = (permeate flux/ Total flux)*100)

In this experience, we observed that the mass transfer for reverse osmosis membranes is a diffusion
type; it’s the case of BW30LE for both salts. In nanofiltration membranes, we observe two types of
solute transport mode [13], with NaCl is by convection which is a physical nature (Figure 7), and with
Na2SO4 is by diffusion which is a chemical nature[20] (Figure 8).

5. Conclusion
The characteristic of electric and hydrodynamic properties which made for commercial and composite
membranes showed a competitiveness of NF overlooked LPRO, in terms of, a selective separation of
salts (selective desalination), an important hydraulic permeability and lower energy consumption in
NF than in LPRO membranes. This study also showed us the functioning and the performance of each
membrane studied for a given application.

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IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 186 (2017) 012039 doi:10.1088/1757-899X/186/1/012039

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