Faculty Publications
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Item Nonporous polymeric membranes for biohydrogen purification(Elsevier, 2025) Mendonca, N.R.; Isloor, A.M.; A.F., A.F.Biohydrogen generated from biomass is a clean form of hydrogen. The dark fermentation process for the generation of biohydrogen gives a mixture of H2 and CO2 from which biohydrogen needs to be purified. From the available methods for biohydrogen purification, membrane technology is the most viable since it is less energy-intensive and can be combined easily with other processes. Both polymeric as well as inorganic membranes are employed in gas separation processes. Of these, nonporous polymeric membranes are economically viable and are hence used in large-scale gas separations. The use of nonporous polymeric membranes, composed of polymers like polybenzimidazole, polyimide, and polysulfone, for biohydrogen purification is an ongoing area of research which can help to generate hydrogen for use in hydrogen fuel cells, hence reducing the dependence on fossil fuels which pollute the environment. © 2026 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Item Synthesis, characterization and desalination study of novel PSAB and mPSAB blend membranes with Polysulfone (PSf)(2012) Padaki, M.; Isloor, A.M.; A.F., A.F.; Abdullah, M.S.The present paper describes the synthesis of poly sulphonyl amino benzamide (PSAB) and methyalated poly sulphonyl amino benzamide (mPSAB) polymer, using terephthalic acid chloride and substituted 4-amino-1-benzensulphonmide in N-methyl-. 2-pyrrolidone. Polymers were characterized by FT-IR, NMR and GPC. Polysulfone composite membranes were prepared using these novel poymers by DIPS (Diffusion Induced Phase Seperation) method. These composite membranes are useful for water purification with special emphasis on sea water desalination. Newly prepared membranes were studied for salt rejection, water flux, molecular weight cut off by PEG solution, effect of the pH on water swelling and salt rejection and flux decline was also studied. 30 to 70% of the salt rejection was observed in all membranes. Effect of the dilution on salt rejection was studied using different concentration of NaCl solution varying from 1000. ppm to 3500. ppm. All the membranes showed 80% rejection for PEG having 1000. Da molecular weight. Contact angle and water swelling was measured to determine hydrophilicity of the membrane. Water swelling and salt rejection in different pH was also studied. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.Item Preparation and characterization of sulfonated polysulfone and N-phthloyl chitosan blend composite cation-exchange membrane for desalination(2012) Padaki, M.; Isloor, A.M.; Wanichapichart, P.; A.F., A.F.Sulfonated polysulfone (sPSf) was prepared and used as a polymer matrix for cation-exchange membranes (CEM). The sulfonation reaction was carried out at room temperature and the degree of sulfonation was calculated by titration method. Blend composite membranes were prepared using different ratios of sPSf and modified chitosan (CS). Membrane properties were studied in terms of water flux, water swelling ratio, molecular weight cut off (MWCO), ion-exchange capacity (IEC) and contact angle measurement. Charge on the membrane was confirmed by ionic diffusion potential (DP). It was observed that, DP increased with the increase in the concentration of sPSf. The membrane sPSf:CS 60:40 showed 1000Da MWCO, 14.6mV diffusion potential (DP) and 0.083mM/g of IEC. Similarly sPSf:CS 90:10 showed 10,000Da MWCO, 71.7mV diffusion potential (DP) and 0.176mM/g of IEC. Moreover, membrane sPSf:CS 60:40 showed 93%, 89% and 69% for MgSO 4, Na 2SO 4 and NaCl rejection respectively. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.Item Studies on copper coated polysulfone/modified poly isobutylene alt-maleic anhydride blend membrane and its antibiofouling property(2013) Isloor, A.M.; Ganesh, B.M.; Isloor, S.; A.F., A.F.; Nagaraj, H.S.; Pattabi, M.As nanofiltration is gaining more and more importance in the field of desalination, one has to address the many obstacles in order to achieve effective/efficient filtration. One such issue is biofouling and microbial attack to the membrane. This paper describes about the study on copper coating onto the membrane surface as biofouling protective layer. This is an attempt to come up with a new approach for desalination and an antimicrobial membrane. The work indicates that, the copper coated membrane can resist the possible microbial attack to some extent while maintaining good salt rejection and appreciable flux. SEM and EDX studies had shown the distribution of copper on the membrane surface. The copper coated membrane had shown the maximum salt rejection of about 96% for 3500ppm NaCl solution and also it had shown the pure water flux of 36Lm-2h-1. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.Item Enhanced hydrophilicity and salt rejection study of graphene oxide-polysulfone mixed matrix membrane(2013) Ganesh, B.M.; Isloor, A.M.; A.F., A.F.Graphene oxide (GO) dispersed polysulfone (PSf) mixed matrix membranes were prepared by wet phase inversion method. The morphology of membranes was studied using scanning electron microscope (SEM) images. The variation in hydrophilicity was studied by measuring surface wettability and water swelling experiments. The performance of membranes in terms of pure water flux and salt rejection was studied. SEM images depict enhanced macrovoids, while the contact angle data reveals that, GO incorporated membrane surface is moderately hydrophilic. Membranes exhibited improved salt rejection after GO doping. Membrane with 2000ppm GO loading has exhibited maximum of 72% Na2SO4 rejection at 4bar applied pressure. The salt rejection seems to depend on pH of the feed solution and it has been witnessed that the salt rejection showed an increasing trend with increase in the pH. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.Item Permeation, Antifouling and desalination performance of TiO2 nanotube incorporated PSf/CS blend membranes(2013) Kumar, R.; Isloor, A.M.; A.F., A.F.; Abdul Rashid, S.A.; Ahmed, A.A.Polysulfone (PSf) and chitosan (CS) blend membranes were prepared by incorporating titanium dioxide nanotubes (TiO2NT) in different compositions. The proper blending of PSf and CS in the PSf/CS/TiO2 membranes was confirmed by ATR-IR spectroscopy. The influence of nanotubes on morphology of membranes was investigated by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM). The effect of nanotubes on hydrophilicity of the membranes was studied by water swelling and contact angle measurements. The distribution of TiO2NT on the membrane surface was determined by Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) analysis. The permeation property of PSf/CS/TiO2NT membranes was carried out by measuring the time dependent pure water flux (PWF). Bovine serum albumin (BSA) protein rejection studies were performed to know the antifouling properties. The rheological percolation threshold of PSf/CS/TiO2NT solutions was measured by viscosity studies. The nanotubes incorporated PSf/CS membranes showed enhanced permeation and antifouling properties compared to PSf/CS and nascent PSf ultrafiltration membranes. Membranes prepared well above rheological percolation threshold showed drastic reduction in pore size and acted as nanofiltration (NF) membranes. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.Item Preparation and characterization of PPEES/chitosan composite nanofiltration membrane(2013) Shenvi, S.S.; Abdul Rashid, S.A.; A.F., A.F.; Kassim, M.A.; Isloor, A.M.Composite membrane having chitosan (CH) as the active layer supported on Poly(1,4-phenylene ether ether sulfone) (PPEES) membrane was synthesized in the current study. The chitosan layer was crosslinked by glutaraldehyde in two different concentrations. The scanning electron microscopic images and hydraulic permeability coefficient revealed the ultrafiltration (UF) nature of the neat PPEES membrane. This was used as a new support material for the casting of chitosan layer in order to get composite membranes. The composite nature of the PPEES/CH membranes was confirmed by FESEM and DSC analysis. The Infrared spectroscopy results confirmed the crosslinking of the chitosan surface by glutaraldehyde (GA). The changes in the hydrophobic nature of the PPEES membrane surface due to deposition of chitosan active layer followed by crosslinking were studied by their contact angle measurement and water flux study. From our studies, PPEES has proved to be a good support membrane for preparation of composite membranes. Increase in GA concentration increased the salt rejection of the membrane up to 34% for NaCl and 53% for MgSO4 on one hand with a simultaneous decrease in the flux values. The hydraulic permeability coefficient values confirmed that the prepared membranes are in nanofiltration range. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.Item Modification of PSf/PIAM membrane for improved desalination applications using Chitosan coagulation media(2013) Kumar, R.; A.F., A.F.; Kassim, M.A.; Isloor, A.M.Polysulfone (PSf)/poly (isobutylene-alt-maleic anhydride) (PIAM) nanofiltration membranes were modified by changing the coagulation bath with various concentrations of glutaraldehyde cross-linked Chitosan solutions. Further the membranes were treated with 0.1N NaOH solution in order to achieve the hydrolysis of PIAM. The morphological changes of the membranes were determined using scanning electron microscope. The blending of PSf/PIAM membrane, the incorporation of Chitosan (CS) molecules in membrane matrix and the hydrolysis of PIAM in the membrane upon alkali treatment were studied by Attenuated Total Reflectance Infra Red (ATR-IR) spectroscopy. The hydrophilicity of modified membranes was measured using the contact angle analyzer. The pressure and time dependent pure water flux of modified PSf/PIAM/CS membranes were measured and compared with PSf/PIAM membranes (after alkali treatment). The antifouling property of membranes was determined using Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) protein rejection studies. The modified membranes showed improved hydrophilicity and reduced pore size. The order of rejection of membranes for various electrolytes was Na2SO4>MgSO4>NaCl at minimum pressure of 0.2MPa TMP. The antifouling property of modified membranes increased with an increase in the composition of Chitosan in coagulation bath and membrane M-0.8 showed a maximum fouling resistance ratio of 74%. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.Item Performance improvement of polysulfone ultrafiltration membrane using N-succinyl chitosan as additive(2013) Kumar, R.; Isloor, A.M.; A.F., A.F.; Matsuura, T.A water soluble chitosan derivative, N-succinyl chitosan (NSCS), was blended with polysulfone (PSf) in three different compositions to fabricate PSf/NSCS blend membranes. The blending of polymers was confirmed by Attenuated Total Reflectance Infra-Red (ATR-IR) spectroscopy. The membranes were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images for their cross-sectional morphology. Pure water flux, water uptake and contact angle of the PSf/NSCS blend membranes were measured and compared with the pristine polysulfone membrane. The PSf/NSCS blend membranes showed enhanced hydrophilicity and permeation fluxes compared to the pristine polysulfone membrane. The membrane antifouling property was determined by filtering the bovine serum albumin (BSA) solution. The maximum flux recovery ratio (FRR) of 70% was observed by the PSf/NSCS blend membrane with 20% NSCS content. The PSf/NSCS membranes with the PSf:NSCS ratios of 80:20 and 90:10 showed nearly the same fluxes as those of polysulfone/polyethylene glycol (PSf/PEG) blend membranes with the same compositions. The hydrophilic derivative of chitosan NSCS acted as an excellent additive in improving PSf ultrafiltration properties. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.Item Antifouling and performance enhancement of polysulfone ultrafiltration membranes using CaCO3 nanoparticles(2013) Nair, A.K.; Isloor, A.M.; Kumar, R.; A.F., A.F.Calcium carbonate nanoparticles were synthesized from calcium nitrate via chemical precipitation method. The nanoparticles were characterized using scanning electron microscope (SEM), Attenuated total reflectance infra red (ATR-IR) spectrum and by X-ray diffraction (XRD). These nanoparticles were used as additive for polysulfone (PSf) ultrafiltration membrane along with polyethylene glycol (PEG) as pore forming agent. The PSf hybrid membranes were characterized by ATR-IR, XRD, and SEM studies. ATR-IR and XRD results indicated the successful incorporation of the nanoparticles in the membranes. Cross sectional images of the membranes along with the elemental mapping of calcium on the membrane surface were assessed using SEM. Hydrophilicity of the membranes was evaluated in terms of contact angle measurements. The permeability of the membranes was determined by measuring the pure water flux (PWF). Membranes were also subjected to antifouling studies using bovine serum albumin (BSA) as the standard protein for rejection. The membranes showed better permeability and antifouling property with the increased addition of CaCO3 nanoparticles. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.