Effect of hydrophilic bentonite nano particle on the performance of polyvinylchloride membrane

Abstract

In this research work, experiments were done to study the fouling behavior and performance of lab-made membranes using humic acid solution as feed. These membranes were prepared in lab using polyvinyl chloride membranes and Hydrophilic Bentonite nano particles via a non-solvent induced phase separation method. Membranes were further used in a dead-end filtration setup to filter a synthetic solution of humic acid and water to perform separation and fouling studies. Feed with different concentrations of humic acid was subjected to membrane system and performance was studied in terms of various parameters like flux, fouling ratio, flux recovery, relative flux, and rejection rate. Pure water flux, permeate flux, flux recovery, fouling ratio and rejection of humic acid of membranes increased in the presence of more hydrophilic Bentonite particles because of improved hydrophilicity. Total fouling was also affected, and irreversible fouling decreased in the presence of nano particle. However, agglomeration was observed between inorganic nano particles for 1.5 wt%. So membrane performance started decreasing by adding hydrophilic Bentonite nano particles more than 1%.