A Review of Reverse Osmosis Membrane Synthesis Methods

The issue of water consumption in the world has been raised as a vital issue in recent decades. Membrane technology is one of the optimal methods to replace thermal methods for freshwater production. Among the methods of desalination and water production, the reverse osmosis membrane method invented in recent decades has quickly found its place in the industry. Today, about half of the world's freshwater production capacity is provided by reverse osmosis membrane technology. The main part of the reverse osmosis process is the membrane, which is generally made of a polymeric material. The fabrication of these polymer membranes and the optimization of their formulations and properties have attracted the attention of researchers in recent years, and their results have been commercialized in some large companies. Due to the importance of this issue in various industries, including power plants, in this article, a review of reverse osmosis membrane synthesis methods has been done. Also, the optimal synthesis method, which is the interfacial polymerization method, is introduced and some points are provided in this regard. Older methods, including cellulose acetate casting, were first used by researchers. However, due to the challenges of these old methods, researchers developed the interfacial polymerization method by making a thin film composite with polyamide material as the main component of the reverse osmosis membrane.