Development of thin-film composite PRO membranes with high power density

Pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) has recently attracted much attention as a promising alternative energy technology to overcome the problems posed by fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. PRO is a process of generating power using the energy potential that arises from the difference in concentration between two solutions separated by a selective semipermeable membrane. In order to commercialize PRO, new methods for producing high-performance PRO membranes must be developed. The power density of a PRO membrane, calculated as the product of osmotically induced water flux and the transmembrane hydraulic pressure difference, is the key performance measure for these membranes. This study aims to improve membrane components and to develop a polyamide composite PRO membrane with a high power density. To this end, we determined the characteristic factors of a PRO membrane that contribute to increase the osmotically induced water flux and estimated their effect on the power density.