Abstract
Latex phase blending and crosslinking method was used in this research work to produce nitrile butadiene rubber-graphene oxide (NBR-GO) membranes. This fabrication technique is new and yields environmentally friendly membranes for oil-water separation. GO loading was varied from 0.5 to 2.0 part per hundred-part rubber (pphr) to study its effect on the performance of NBR-GO membrane. GO was found to alter the surface morphology of the NBR matrix by introducing creases and fold on its surface, which then increases the permeation flux and rejection rate efficiency of the membrane. X-Ray diffraction analysis proves that GO was well dispersed in the membrane due to the non-existence of GO fingerprint diffraction peak at 2θ value of 10–12° in the membrane samples. The membrane filled with 2.0 pphr GO has the capability to permeate 7688.54 Lm−2 h−1 water at operating pressure of 0.3 bar with the corresponding rejection rate of oil recorded at 94.89%. As the GO loading increases from 0.5 to 2.0 pphr, fouling on the membrane surface also increases from Rt value of 45.03% to 87.96%. However, 100% recovery on membrane performance could be achieved by chemical backwashing.
Highlights
In 2015, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly recognized clean water—a critical element for all living things on this planet—as one of the sustainable development goals (SDG)
A single layer of Graphene oxide (GO) has an average length of 873.5 ± 141.1 nm and thickness of 1–2 nm
Creation of folds on the membrane surfaces filled with GO were reported in other works [2,39,40,41]
Summary
In 2015, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly recognized clean water—a critical element for all living things on this planet—as one of the sustainable development goals (SDG). Traditional oil from water separation methods, such as coagulation, dissolved air floatation, gravity separation, flocculation, and de-emulsification have some drawbacks, for example high operation cost, low filtration efficiency, energy consuming, complex processes, corrosion of the equipment, and recontamination. These techniques are ineffective in separation of micron size oil in emulsion form [4,5]. The major barrier for concrete application of membrane technology in oily wastewater filtration is the fouling tendency of membrane, the trade-off effect between permeation flux, and the rejection efficiency and poor chemical resistance [8]
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