The Critical Need for Increased Selectivity, Not Increased Water Permeability, for Desalination Membranes

Desalination membranes are essential for the treatment of unconventional water sources, such as seawater and wastewater, to alleviate water scarcity. Promising research efforts on novel membrane materials may yield significant performance gains over state-of-the-art thin-film composite (TFC) membranes, which are constrained by the permeability–selectivity trade-off. However, little guidance currently exists on the practical impact of such performance gains, namely enhanced water permeability or enhanced water–solute selectivity. In this critical review, we first discuss the performance of current TFC membranes. We then highlight and provide context for recent module-scale modeling studies that have found…

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  Division of Graduate Education

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  Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems

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  Division of Engineering Education and Centers

  Award: 1449500