Preparation and evaluation of flat membranes for phenols separation

Polyamide membranes (PA) have been prepared via casting PA polymer in acid media using different percentage of polymer/solvent/additive. Membranes have been characterized using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and operating pressure. The resultant sheet has been applied to separate phenol and phenol derivatives from water feed streams. Membranes have shown better separation properties for all feed mixtures. In all cases, flux and permeability decreased with increasing the amount of polymer in the sheet matrix, while selectivity depended on membrane morphology. The results indicate that the increase in polymeric concentration and operating time leads to decreasing in separation efficiency of membrane sheets.