# Influence of Fabric Support on Improving the Layer-by-Layer Polyethersulfone Membrane Performance

## TL;DR

This study explores how different fabric supports affect the performance of reverse osmosis membranes in terms of water flow and salt rejection.

## Contribution

The novelty lies in comparing woven and non-woven fabric supports to optimize reverse osmosis membrane performance.

## Key findings

- Polyester woven support provides a permeate flux of 39.9 LMH with piperazine coagulation.
- Polyester non-woven support achieves 92.2% salt rejection with melamine coagulation.
- Polypropylene support yields the lowest mechanical properties among tested supports.

## Abstract

This work is based on studying the effect of different kinds of support on the prepared reverse osmosis membranes. Different kinds of woven and non-woven supports were tested and characterized to select the best one for RO membrane preparation. The prepared membrane on polyester woven support (M1ws) provides 39.9 LMH permeate flux using a piperazine coagulation bath during membrane preparation, while polyester non-woven support (M2ns) exhibits the highest salt rejection percentage, which was 92.2% using a Melamine coagulation bath. The mechanical properties for preparing membranes using supports were arranged in descending order as follows: M1ws > M2ns > M3np. The membrane on polypropylene support (M3np) provides the lowest mechanical properties.