Sodium cyanide separation and parameter estimation for reverse osmosis thin film composite polyamide membrane

Sodium cyanide separation data are obtained from synthetic binary aqueous solutions using a commercial thin film composite polyamide reverse osmosis membrane. The separation data are analyzed with the help of two membrane transport models, i.e., combined film theory-solution-diffusion (CFSD) model and combined film theory-Spiegler-Kedem (CFSK) model. The membrane transport parameters and mass transfer coefficients are estimated, simultaneously, from both the models, using a graphical method in case of CFSD model, and a nonlinear parameter estimation method for CFSK model. The new phenomena that there exists a maximum in rejection when it is plotted against product flux, which was observed previously using the same membrane for the phenol-water system, is observed in the present case too. This behavior is explained using the above said models. Though both the models predict the membrane performance reasonably, the values of CFSK model are more accurate and the mass transfer coefficients estimated from the CFSK model are comparable with the literature values. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.