Utilization of poly/chitosan as membrane for wastewater treatment

Chitosan, which is soluble in acidic aqueous media, is used in many applications (food, cosmetics, biomedical, pharmaceutical and wastewater treatment). Chitosan appear in white powder form that derived from shells of crustaceans such as crab and shrimp. The rationale of chitosan use because it is biodegradable, non-toxic and low cost. The proposed method of this research study is focus on fabrication of membrane filter. Membrane filtration technologies apply to reduce the environmental problem faced by wastewater in agriculture industry. The poly/chitosan membrane is prepared by blending of polymer (polysulfone), solvent (n-methyl-pyrrolidone), chitosan (crab shells) and acetic acid. The few steps of membrane fabrication; blending, drying and casting. The resultant of membrane fabrication is characterized by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) (observation of blend sampling peaks) and microscope analyzer (observation of surface and cross-section of membrane).