Preparation of water-based anion-exchange membrane from PVA for anti-fouling in the electrodialysis process

Anion exchange membrane (AEMs) fouling is a serious problem influencing membrane performance during electrodialysis process(ED), which would increase power consumption and reduce water recovery. In this paper, an aliphatic anion-exchange membrane was prepared from quaternized polyvinyl alcohol (QPVA) via dual crosslinking through annealing treatment and condensation reaction to restrain the membrane water swelling. The Wu% of QPVA membrane could be reduced to 22.87 +/- 0.81%. Due to the hydrophilia (59.86 +/- 0.21 degrees), ne-gative zeta-potential surface and aliphatic matrix of QPVA, no transition time appeared under our experiment condition, indicating the QPVA membrane was scarcely fouled by SDBS. And the existence of SDBS in dilute solution generated slightly effect on the QPVA membrane resistance and only 7.47 +/- 0.21% reduction of the desalination rate in ED process. Furthermore, only distilled water was used as solution or reaction media, without any harmful organic solvents, presenting an environmentally friendly route for the preparation of water-based anion-exchange membrane. So, the excellent anti-fouling performance along with green preparation of QPVA showed its remarkable prospect for desalination purpose in ED process.