Abstract
Membrane biofouling has proved to be a major obstacle when it comes to membrane efficiency in membrane-based water treatment. Solutions to this problem remain elusive. This study presents novel polyethersulfone (PES) membranes that are fabricated using the phase inversion method at different loadings of graphene oxide (GO) and 1 wt. % arabic gum (AG) as nanofiller and pore forming agents. Synthesized GO was examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) for morphological studies and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) for elemental analysis. The prepared GO flakes showed a high content of oxygen-containing groups (~31%). The fabricated membranes were extensively characterized, including water contact angle analysis for hydrophilicity, zeta potential measurements for surface charge, SEM, total porosity and pore size measurements. The prepared membranes underwent fouling tests using bovine serum albumin (BSA) solutions and biofouling tests using model Gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli) bacterial suspensions as well as real treated sewage effluent (TSE). The results showed that the novel PES/GO membranes possessed strong hydrophilicity and negative surface charge with an increase in porosity, pore size and water flux. The PES/GO membranes exhibited superior antibacterial action against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial species, implicating PES membranes which incorporate GO and AG as novel membranes that are capable of high antibiofouling properties with high flux.
Highlights
Membranes are increasingly being employed in both desalination and water treatment processes due to the advantages associated with membrane technologies [1]
It is broadly accepted that the utilization of membranes in desalination and wastewater treatment compared to the conventional processes, such as thermal desalination or activated sludge systems, offers reduced operating costs, lower carbon footprints and smaller environmental impacts on aquatic ecosystems [2]
Multiple samples from each membrane were analyzed using a NicoletTM iS50 FTIR Spectrometer, Thermo Fisher Scientific (USA) which was equipped with a horizontal attenuated total reflectance (ATR) device within the range of 4000–500 cm−1 in order to obtain FTIR spectra for the determination of functional groups that were present in the membranes
Summary
Membranes are increasingly being employed in both desalination and water treatment processes due to the advantages associated with membrane technologies [1]. A conditioning film is formed on the membrane surface as a result of the adsorption of large organic molecules such as humic substances, lipoglycans and other products of microbial processing. This is shortly followed by the primary adhesion by rapidly adhering cells which exist as part of the microbial community in the feed water or solution. One study in particular tested microfiltration membranes coated with carbon-based nanoparticles (fullerene C60) on Escherichia coli (E. coli) suspension [29] Whilst their results indicated a decrease in microbial attachment, the effectiveness of their membranes in real waste waters that contain a diverse bacterial community was not tested. It is anticipated that the novel PES membranes containing GO and AG will demonstrate strong antimicrobial properties against model Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria
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