Efficient dye rejection using a mixed matrix polyphenylsulfone/polysulfone membrane containing basil seed mucilage hydrogel

Abstract

In this work, basil seed mucilage (BSM) hydrogel was first extracted using a facile approach. Then, a mixed matrix blend membrane containing polyphenylsulfone/polysulfone incorporated with basil seed mucilage hydrogel was fabricated using the VIPS-NIPS strategy, in which 1,4-dioxane was utilized as the co-solvent. BSM was utilized in this research work because of its significant hydrophilicity and outstanding water stability. Accordingly, different membrane compositions with a variety of BSM contents were fabricated in order to obtain an optimized membrane with extraordinary dye rejection and flux performance. Different dyes rejection performance, including Direct Yellow (DY), Methyl Green (MG), Methylene Blue (MB), and Crystal Violet (CV), was evaluated by the fabricated membranes, based on which an excellent rejection performance (dye rejections of 99.5, 99.2, 98.5 and 97 for DY, MG, CV, and MB, respectively) was achieved. Furthermore, it was observed that after the incorporation of BSM, water flux was significantly enhanced (0.8, 2.5, 3.18 and 4.9 L.m-2.h-1.bar-1 for the neat membrane and the membranes incorporated with 0.1, 0.2, and 0.5 wt% BSM). It is also noteworthy that long-term stability of the optimum membrane, i.e., PSf/PPSU@BSM 0.2, was evaluated, by which it was demonstrated that after ten days, dye rejection and flux performance showed negligible changes because of dilution and fouling effect.