Hyperbranched polymer membrane for catalytic degradation of polychlorinated biphenyl-153 (PCB-153) in water

Abstract

Catalytic membranes consisting of Fe/Pd bimetallic nanoparticles were fabricated via interfacial polymerisation for the degradation of a polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB-153). Characterisation techniques for the membranes included Fourier transform infrared-attenuated total reflectance (FTIR-ATR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with focused ion beam (FIB) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), atomic force microscopy (AFM), contact angle analysis and X-ray photoelectron microscopy (XPS).Pure water flux studies were performed using a dead-end filtration cell system operated at 600 kPa. The efficiency of the fabricated membranes to dechlorinatePCB-153in water samples was monitored using GC–MS. The FTIR-ATR spectra illustrated that a polyamide film was successfully deposited onto the commercial polysulfone (PSf) membrane. SEM-FIB-EDS confirmed the presence and uniform dispersion of iron and palladium on the surface of the membranes. Performance evaluation studies of the membranes showed that the addition of the HPEI/Fe-Pd composite improved the hydrophilicity of the membrane from 73.3° to 25.3° for the modified membranes. A dechlorination efficiency of up to 93% was attainedand this was accompanied by the production of by-products such astetrachlorobiphenyl (PCB-52) and dichlorobiphenyl (PCB-2).