Effective separation of agrochemicals and textile dyes from polluted aqueous solution employing ternary ZnCoFe layered double hydroxide incorporated polyethersulfone hollow fiber ultrafiltration membrane

Abstract

The rapid urbanization and industrialization has increased the contamination of water bodies with agrochemical residues and textile dyes, which poses a severe threat to environmental and human health, necessitating the need of an efficient water purification strategies. Membrane-based filtration techniques has grown significantly due to the demand for sustainable and effective water treatment. For the first time, ternary ZnCoFe layered double hydroxides (LDH) modified polyethersulfone hollow fiber ultrafiltration membrane was developed for enhancing hydrophilicity and separation efficiency of dyes and agrochemicals. The widespread use and long-term persistence in the water bodies of Reactive Orange 16, Crystal Violet, chlorpyrifos and 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-D) highlight the critical need for the effective removal of these pollutants. ZnCoFe LDH was developed by the co-precipitation method with a 2:2:1 M ratio of nitrates of Zn, Co, and Fe transition metals. The membranes were fabricated with different composition of LDH. The influence of LDH in the membranes was assessed through FESEM, AFM, zeta potential, contact angle, water uptake capacity, porosity, water permeability, and molecular weight cut-off. The incorporation of ZnCoFe-LDH into the PES membrane resulted in an improved pure water flux, rising from 91.03 Lm?2 h?1 for the pristine (MLZ-0) membrane to 143.25 Lm?2 h?1 for the optimized (MLZ-2). The optimized membrane exhibits a good antifouling property with flux recovery ratio improved from 52.13 to 64.18%. The rejection of Reactive Orange 16 and Crystal Violet was found to be 74.9% and 79.8% for MLZ-0 whereas for MLZ-2 the values were 83.2% and 99.1% respectively. MLZ-2 also exhibited 47.1% and 90.9% for 2,4-D and chlorpyrifos rejection respectively while pristine membrane showed 22.7% and 78.8%. © 2025 Elsevier B.V.