Development of a new blended polyethersulfone membrane for dye removal from synthetic wastewater

Abstract

The wastewater produced from various industries like textile, paper, rubber, leather, plastics, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals contains many dyes. Most commonly found dyes in these effluents are Orange G and Methylene blue. These dyes are toxic and are harmful to the environment as well as humans. Hence they need to be removed from the wastewater. Polyethersulfone (PES) membranes are most widely used in ultrafiltration separation processes. Enhancement in membrane permeability and improving the rejection capabilities of the membrane is a key challenge faced by membrane researchers. The current works represent the effect of Barium Chloride blending on separation performance of PES membranes. Through systematic experimental studies, this research work aims to fabricate Polyethersulfone (PES) based membranes and to investigate their efficiency in removing Orange G and Methylene blue from synthetic wastewater. Five different membranes, one of which is a pristine PES membrane and four others made of PES blended with different wt % of Barium Chloride were synthesized in our lab by phase inversion method. The characterization was carried for these fabricated membranes for various properties like membrane morphology, surface hydrophilicity, porosity, and pure water flux. It was evident from the experimental results that PES blended with BaCl2 membranes showed better dye separation efficiency in comparison with the pristine PES membrane. Also, out of the four blended membranes, the one with 2 wt % BaCl2 showed the highest pure water flux, permeate flux, dye rejection, lowest contact angle and the best porosity. The above experimental observations indicate that the UF PES membranes blended with 2 wt % BaCl2 can be a viable alternative membrane for the separation of dyes from industrial water.