Antifouling Modification and Application-Oriented Testing of Reverse Osmosis Membranes

This paper considers the development of antifouling RO membranes where the effects of the surface modification are verified not only through microbial fouling-, but also application-oriented performance tests. To achieve antifouling membrane surfaces, polymer chains with antifouling properties are synthesized onto the selective (feed-) side of the membranes via the surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (si-ATRP). To estimate and improve the rate of the respective effort versus the efficiency of the modification, several combinations of plasma and wet chemical modification techniques are applied and compared.