Integrated Spray Coating for Rapid Production of Thin-Film Composite Membranes with Improved Desalination Efficiency

To the current literature on synthesis of TFC membranes, this research presents a new and state-of-art technique to achieve spray coating of TFC membrane through one-step process. This three-stage formation process is more efficient than other conventional multi-step methods for forming the selective layer and the porous support because this new technique combines spray-assisted phase inversion and interfacial polymerization into a single process. This considerably minimises fabrication time, following a membrane fabrication process of less than 2 hours as opposed to conventional fabrication of between 2 to 5 days. The following TFC as proposed present high-performance enhancement achieved by obtaining a water permeance of 2.6Lm-2h-1bar compared to traditional membranes while maintaining high salt rejection rate of over 95% when tested with 2000ppm saline solution at moderate pressure and ambient temperatures. Furthermore, this process is sustainable oriented, that reduce using unnecessary material and considering the ecology severely. This revolutionary fabrication technique provides an economical, fast and sustainable process for fabricating highly effective TFC membranes that can lead to potential improvement in desalination technology and finding solution to major water issues in the world.