A novel asymmetric structured nanocomposite PEO-Cloisite based membrane for salt and dye separation

Abstract

In this study a novel approach was adopted to couple cloisite functionalised with PEO nanoparticles to modify the polyether sulfone (PES) at low pressure nanofiltration membrane for the removal of salts and dyes from waste water. PES/f-(PEO-Cloisite) nanocomposite membranes were fabricated by phase inversion process in presence of DMF as solvent. The functionalised PEO-Cloisite mixture was characterised by SEM-EDX and the membranes were characterised by hydrophilicity and morphology. The highest water flux of 152.77 Lm−2h−1 was observed for 4.5 wt% of PEO-Cloisite in PES membrane. Contact angle values reduced from 74.3° to 60.9° with the increase in the concentration of PEO-Cloisite and confirmed the increase of hydrophilicity. The membrane performance was tested using model saline and dye solutions by low pressure nanofiltration under longer run mode. This study infers that modification of PES membranes using functionalised PEO-Cloisite increase the membrane stability can be used to alleviate the fouling in the treatment of industrial waste water.