Fabrication and characterization of nanocomposite hollow fiber membranes for wastewater treatment

Abstract

Using the phase inversion technique, an innovative hollow fiber membrane made of polysulfone/polyethylene glycol (PS/PEG) was constructed. Deionized water was used as the coagulant and dimethylformamide (DMF) as the solvent. Depending on the PS concentration, PEG was added to the PS mixture as a pore former in varying weight percentages (0.5 to 3.5 wt%) to enhance the PS membrane’s performance. Several nanoparticles (NPs), including silicon dioxide (SiO₂), titanium dioxide (TiO₂), and carbon nanotubes (CNTs), were used to create a range of novel nano composite (NC) PS/PEG hollow fiber membranes. The XRD, SEM, EDX, DMA, and BET were among the characterization techniques used to evaluate and characterize the hollow fiber membrane nanocomposite (NCs) of PS, PS/PEG, and PS/PEG/CNTs (M1), PS/PEG/TiO₂ (M2), and PS/PEG/SiO₂ (M3). All of the chosen hollow fiber membranes were subjected to dye adsorption using two cationic (Methylene Blue (MB) and Malachite Green Oxalate (MG)) and anionic (Methyl Red (MR)) dyes. The results showed that the membrane containing PS/PEG/TiO₂ (M2) was the most successful in removing MR (66.6%) as an anionic dye and MG (78%) and MB (73.2%) as cationic dyes after 90 min. M2 NCs hollow fiber membranes were utilized to remove 40.4 and 28% Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) (mg/L) from a natural wastewater sample obtained from the Holding Company for Potable Water and Wastewater in El Sharqia station, Egypt. Furthermore, PO₄^3-, Sulphur, NH₃, NO₂^–, NO₃^–, and P decrease from 0.6, 5, 0.56, 7.16, and 2.27 to zero mg/L, respectively, with 100% rejection. The PS/PEG/TiO₂ NCs hollow fiber membrane should be used in water-treatment facilities by creating them on large-scale.