Study on Potassium Permanganate Chemical Treatment of Discarded Reverse Osmosis Membranes Aiming their Reuse

Membrane-based industrial desalination/demineralization plants generate a considerable amount of discarded membranes. This work studies the effects of the chemical treatment with potassium permanganate solutions in combination with chemical cleaning of three years old composite polyamide/polysulfone reverse osmosis membranes (8 modules) in order to make them reusable in other applications than reverse osmosis and to increase their life cycles. The performance of membranes with 60cm(2) was evaluated in terms of water permeate flux and salt rejection, two properties that can be easily measured in industrial systems. Potassium permanganate treatment degraded the selective layer, improving the water permeate flux of at least 15% from its initial value at the expense of decreased salt rejection. The formation of a manganese oxide layer was detected which reduced subsequent oxidative treatment efficacy. Citric acid was used as a cleaning agent after the oxidation steps, removing part of the manganese oxide layer; the result was an enhanced oxidative process, which increased the permeate flux even more and decreased the loss of salt rejection. Furthermore, to verify the stability of the treatment, the membrane was submitted to a long-term oxidizing experiment.