FABRICATION OF POLYETHERSULFONE – POLYITACONIC ACID (PES-PIA) MEMBRANE FOR REMOVAL OF REACTIVE RED 120

The hazardous and mutagenic properties of dye effluents discharged into water bodies have led to the development of membrane separation for water treatment. pH-sensitive membranes have been widely employed as they exhibit remarkable improvements in the permeability and separation performance of polyethersulfone (PES) membranes. In this study, the PES membranes incorporated with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), pluronic F108, and polyitaconic acid (PIA) by phase inversion were fabricated and characterized. PIA at different weight percentages were introduced into the PES dope solution via blending technique. The dye removal capacity, chemical composition, and thermal stability were characterized using UV-Vis spectrometer, fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) respectively. The fabricated membranes showed excellent rejection of reactive red 120 (RR120), which is an anionic dye. The study evaluated the membrane performance of pure water permeation (PWP) along with RR120 dye rejection. M20-PPI1, with a weight percentage of PVP/Pluronic F108/PIA; 3%/1.5%/0.25%, exhibited the highest water flux of 12 L/m2h and dye rejection of 82% at pH value of 2 for RR120 dye rejection. The findings propose that M20-PPI1 is an effective pH-sensitive membrane for dye rejection.