Mechanical enhancement and water treatment efficiency of nanocomposite PES membranes: a study on Akçay dam water filtration application
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Polymeric membranes are widely used in water treatment because of their ease of fabrication and low cost. The flux and purification performance of membranes can be significantly improved by incorporating appropriate amounts of nanomaterials into the polymeric membrane matrices. In this study, neat poly(ether sulfone) (PES), PES/nano copper oxide (CuO), and PES/nano zinc oxide (ZnO) membranes are fabricated via phase inversion. The pure water flux of the neat PES membrane, which is 355.14 L/m2·h, is increased significantly with the addition of nano-CuO and nano-ZnO, and the pure water fluxes of the nanocomposite membranes vary in the range of 392.65–429.74 L/m2·h. Moreover, nano CuO and nano ZnO-doped PES nanocomposite membranes exhibit higher conductivity, color, total organic carbon, boron, iron, selenium, barium, and total chromium removal efficiencies than neat PES membranes. The membrane surfaces examined by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) after water filtration revealed that those containing 0.5% wt. nano CuO and nano ZnO are more resistant to fouling than the membrane surfaces containing 1% wt. nano CuO and nano ZnO. Based on the results of this study, 0.5% wt. nano ZnO-doped PES membrane is found to be the most suitable membrane for use in water treatment due to its high pure water flux (427.14 L/m2·h), high pollutant removal efficiency, and high fouling resistance. When the mechanical properties of the membranes are examined, the addition of CuO and ZnO nanoparticles increases the membrane stiffness and modulus of elasticity. The addition of 0.5% and 1% for CuO leads to an increase in the modulus of elasticity by 57.95% and 324.43%, respectively, while the addition of 0.5% and 1% for ZnO leads to an increase in the modulus of elasticity by 480.68% and 1802.43%, respectively. At the same time, the tensile strength of the membranes also increases with the addition of nanomaterials.
Date Issued
2024-07-23
Date Acceptance
2024-04-19
Citation
ACS Omega, 2024, 9 (29), pp.31556-31568
ISSN
2470-1343
Publisher
American Chemical Society (ACS)
Start Page
31556
End Page
31568
Journal / Book Title
ACS Omega
Volume
9
Issue
29
Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society. This publication is licensed under
CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
License URL
Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.4c01410
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2024-07-15