PERFORMANCE OF POROUS CELLULOSE ACETATE MEMBRANES IN SOME REVERSE OSMOSIS EXPERIMENTS

The effects of surface layer-side and backside reverse osmosis operations on the performance of the Loeb-Sourirajan type porous cellulose acetate membranes have been studied at the operating pressures of 100 and 250 p.s.i.g. The mechanism of reverse osmosis transport is the same in both operations. The relative selectivity of the membrane for different solutes changes with operating pressure and membrane pretreatment. Backpressure treatment offers an effective method of improving membrane performance. The results of cyclic experiments at pressures up to 250 p.s.i.g. indicate the possibility of utilizing the backpressure treatment technique for simultaneous brackish water conversion. © 1969, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.