Reham R. Abdullah; Kadhum M. Shabeeb; Aseel B. Alzubaydi; Alberto Figoli; Alessandra Criscuoli; Enrico Drioli; Qusay Alsalhy
Abstract
One of the polymeric membranes' main limitations is their susceptibility to fouling, lowering the membrane's performance with time. Therefore, incorporating nanomaterials in polymer ...
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One of the polymeric membranes' main limitations is their susceptibility to fouling, lowering the membrane's performance with time. Therefore, incorporating nanomaterials in polymer matrices has attracted great attention in wastewater treatment applications. It's a promising approach for enhancing membrane hydrophilicity and performance. Herein, ultrafiltration nanocomposite membranes were synthesized by applying the phase inversion method through immobilizing (0.1-0.4 wt.%) tungsten oxide (WO2.89) nanoparticles in a polyether sulfone (PES) matrix. Membrane's anti-fouling performance was evaluated against tinzaparin sodium. The data showed that the pure water flux improved with increasing nanoparticle loading, reaching its optimum value of 54.9 kg/m2 h at 0.4 wt.% WO2.89 nanoparticles compared to the neat membrane's 30.42 kg/m2 h. The results also demonstrated that the rejection efficiency and flux recovery ratio (FRR) against tinzaparin sodium was enhanced, by 44.89% and 12.69%, respectively, for the membranes modified with 0.4wt.% WO2.89 nanoparticles loading compared to the neat PES membrane. The data also showed that after exposing the nanocomposite membranes to UV light irradiation (λ=365 nm) and intensity (1200mW/cm2) for 1h, a further enhancement by 8.34% in FRR as compared to the membranes with the same percentage of nanoparticles loading without irradiation. It is concluded that the photocatalytic activity of WO2.89 nanoparticles in the decomposition of organic molecules on/close to the membrane surface was the impact that caused this improvement in membrane anti-fouling property
