Fabrication of PPSU/PANI hollow fiber membranes for humic acid removal

Abstract

Membrane based separation has proved its efficiency over other traditional techniques of water purification. Hollow fiber (HF) membranes are more ideal compared to other types of membranes due to their high surface area, enhanced mechanical property and easy handling. Significant research had been done in this area, still the abundant scope of membrane technology has motivated many scientists to further explore the field. The current work is an attempt to study the efficiency of nanomaterials in polymeric membranes. This paper is focused on incorporating polyaniline (PANI) based nanocomposites into the polymer membranes and to study the properties and performance of the prepared nanocomposite membranes. Polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) are the main polymer and pore forming agent used in this study respectively. The dope solution was prepared by blending PPSU and PVP with PANI in different compositions. New PPSU composite HF membranes were fabricated using wet-jet phase inversion technique. The properties and performance of the membranes were analyzed by cross sectional morphology, water uptake capacity, permeation properties and antifouling ability. The self-cleaning capacity of the membranes was determined by evaluating the flux recovery ratio. The water purification efficiency of the membranes was evaluated in terms of humic acid rejection studies. Polyphenylsulfone containing 0.5 wt% of polyaniline exhibited maximum rejection of 99% for humic acid. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.