Performance of Commercial Asymmetric Cellulose Acetate Membrane Compared to Polydopamine Modified Thin Film Composite Membranes for Forward Osmosis

In forward osmosis applications the cellulose acetate (CA) membrane offers the best performance but carries the limitation of not tolerating a basic feed water. This characteristic eliminates the CA membrane from use with the ammonia-carbon dioxide (NH3-CO2) draw solution. Treatment of conventional reverse osmosis membrane with polydopamine improves the hydrophilic properties of the membrane.