Browsing by Author "Al-Ahmed, A."

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    Assessment of sulfonated homo and co-polyimides incorporated polysulfone ultrafiltration blend membranes for effective removal of heavy metals and proteins
    (Nature Research, 2020) Jafar Mazumder, M.A.; Raja, P.H.; Isloor, A.M.; Muhammad, M.; Chowdhury, S.H.; Ali, S.A.; Siddique, I.; Al-Ahmed, A.
    Sulfonated homo and co- polyimide (sPI) were synthesized with new compositional ratios, and used as additives (0.5 wt%, 0.75 wt%, and 1.0 wt%) to prepare blend membranes with polysulfone (PSf). Flat sheet membranes for ultrafiltration (UF) were casted using the phase inversion technique. Surface morphology of the prepared UF membranes were characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Surface charge of the membranes were determined by zeta potential, and hydrophilicity was studied by contact angle measurement. The contact angle of the membrane decreased with increasing sPI additive indicates increasing the hydrophilicity of the blend membranes. Filtration studies were conducted for rejection of heavy metals (Pb2+ and Cd2+) and proteins (pepsin and BSA). Blend membranes showed better rejection than pure PSf membrane. Among the blend membranes it was observed that with increasing amount of sPIs enhance the membrane properties and finally, PSf-sPI5 membrane with 1 wt% of sPI5 showed the improved permeability (72.1 L m?2 h?1 bar?1), and the best rejection properties were found for both metal ions (?98% of Pb2+; ?92% of Cd2+) and proteins (>98% of BSA; > 86% of Pepsin). Over all, this membrane was having better hydrophilicity, porosity and higher number of sites to attach the metal ions. Its performance was even better than several-reported sulfonic acid based UF membranes. All these intriguing properties directed this new UF membrane for its potential application in wastewater treatment. © 2020, The Author(s).
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    Humic Acid Based Biopolymeric Membrane for Effective Removal of Methylene Blue and Rhodamine B
    (American Chemical Society service@acs.org, 2015) Shenvi, S.S.; Isloor, A.M.; A.F., A.F.; Shilton, S.J.; Al-Ahmed, A.
    Humic acid was immobilized on a polypropylene supported sodium alginate/hydroxyethyl cellulose blend membrane in the current work. The adsorption property of this membrane for the removal of cationic dyes, namely, methylene blue (MB) and rhodamine B (RhB), was extensively studied. Batch-adsorption experiments were conducted to investigate the adsorption behavior of dyes on the membrane with variation in adsorbent mass, initial dye concentration, pH, time, and temperature. The membranes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Prepared membranes showed more than 98% removal capacity for both dyes under optimal conditions. Kinetic experiments revealed that the pseudo second order model exhibited the best correlation with the adsorption data. Dubinin-Radushkevich model indicated that the adsorption of dyes onto the membrane surface was by simple physisorption. The membrane was easily regenerated by simple acid treatment, and its efficiency remained significant even after four adsorption cycles. © 2015 American Chemical Society.