Simulation of Modified Nanoporous Titanate Composite Membrane in Reverse Osmosis Desalination Process

Abstract

Nowadays, due to the lack of drinking water and the increase in global demand, desalination by reverse osmosis (RO) has been developed. In this regard, activities have been carried out to increase water flux and salt removal, which are important indicators in this process, including membrane modification by loading nanoparticles (NPs). Process simulation plays an important role in reducing laboratory costs, improving efficiency, and investigating operational parameters in more detail. This is an important factor that leads us to process simulation. The simulation of the RO process by thin-film composite membranes modified with nanoporous titanate (mNTs) NPs has been conducted using COMSOL software. The performance of this process was checked by loading different amounts of mNTs with the desired membrane. The results revealed that by adding 0.01 w % of mNTs to the membrane composition, the performance of the process was improved in that the initial water flux through the membrane increased by about 95.4 %, while the salt rejection remained nearby 98 % and did not decrease much. Finally, to validate and expand the simulation results, the model outcomes were compared with experimental data, and the mean relative error for water flux and salt removal percentage was 1.15 % and 0.83 %, respectively.