Boron removal from model water by RO and NF membranes characterized using S-K model

Boron is one of the most problematic inorganic pollutants and is difficult to remove in water. Strict standards have been imposed for boron content in water because of their high toxicity at high concentrations. Technologies using membrane processes such as reverse osmosis (RO) and nanofiltration (NF) have increasingly been employed in many industrial sectors. In this work, removal of boron from model water solutions was investigated using polyamide reverse osmosis and nanofiltration membranes. RO-AG, RO-SG, NF-90 and NF-HL membranes were used to reduce the boron from model water at different operational conditions. To understand the boron separation properties a characterization of the four membranes was performed by determining the pure water permeability, surface charge and molecular weight cut-off. Thereafter, the effect of feed pressure, concentration, ionic strength, nature of ions in solution and pH on the rejection of boron were studied. The rejection of boron can reach up to 90% for the three membranes AG, SG and NF-90 at pH = 11. The Spiegler-Kedem model was applied to experimental results to determine the reflection coefficient of the membrane sigma and the solute permeability P-s.