Evaluation of a modified spray‐applied interfacial polymerization method for preparation of nanofiltration membranes

ABSTRACT Nanofiltration (NF) membranes were fabricated by using piperazine (PIP) and trimesoyl chloride (TMC) by conventional and spray‐applied interfacial polymerization methods, studying the effect of the application method for both phases, the number of applied layers, and the displacement speed for the spray application. A polysulfone ultrafiltration membrane was used as support. NF membranes were characterized by different spectroscopic, microscopic, and physicochemical techniques. Rejection capacity was evaluated for sodium chloride (NaCl), sodium sulfate (Na2SO4), and magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) salts; the decreasing rejection order was Na2SO4 > MgSO4 > NaCl for each NF membrane. NF membrane prepared with one layer of the sprayed out TMC solution and conventional application of PIP solution exhibited the highest salt rejection (99% for 1000 ppm Na2SO4) and a permeated flux of 10.28 L m−2 h−1 at 0.55 MPa. The modified method is a facile‐reproducible preparation methodology that reduces the consumption of time, effort, and reagents leading to a scalable manufacturing process for separation technology. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019, 136, 48129.