Temperature-Sensitive Polymers Adhered on FO Membrane as Drawing Agents

Abstract

Water purification requires a large amount of energy that can cause pollution problems. For this reason, forward osmosis (FO) has attracted intense interest that required a relatively low amount of energy for water purification. The forward osmosis has a serious problem that it needs drawing agents creating osmotic pressure to extract water from contaminated water. In this study, a copolymer of zwitterionic moiety and an interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) hydrogel based on thermo-responsive polymer hydrogel, poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) were prepared and attached on FO membranes, which successfully played the role of drawing agents. In the copolymer hydrogel, its swelling ratio was improved, but thermo-sensitivity was decreased. The swelling ratio and thermo-sensitivity of IPN hydrogel was lowered. We could confirm that swelling ratio is related to osmotic pressure.