Abstract
A characterization of the permeation and separation using single salt solution was carried out with charged composite membranes. Various charged composite membranes were fabricated by blending an ionic polymer with a nonionic polymer in different ratios. In this study, sodium alginate, chitosan and poly(vinyl alcohol) were employed as anionic, cationic and nonionic polymers, respectively. The permeation and separation behaviors of the aqueous salt solutions have been investigated through the charged composite membranes with various charge densities. As the content of the ionic polymer increased in the membrane, the hydrophilicity of the membrane increased, and pure water flux and the solution flux increased correspondingly, indicating that the permeation performance through the membrane is determined mainly by its hydrophilicity. Electrostatic interaction between the charged membrane and ionic solute molecules, that is, Donnan exclusion, was observed to be attributed to salt rejection to a greater extent, and molecular sieve mechanism was effective for the separation of salts under a similar electrostatic circumstance of solutes.