Sulphonated copolymers are being used as membrane material in new research which is claiming improved resistance to chlorine under funding provided by the US Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation-Partnerships for Innovation Program.
The work has been carried out by Prof Benny Freeman of the University of Texas at Austin, James E McGrath of Virginia Tech University and Ho Bum Park of the University of Ulsan, Republic of Korea.
The new material, for which a patent has been filed, is claimed to be extremely tolerant to aqueous chlorine, thus possibly eliminating any dechlorination stage in membrane water treatment.