Abstract
Three ultrafiltration membranes were prepared using phase separation techniques. The membranes were characterized by scan electron microscope, porosity, pore size distribution measurement, and mechanical properties. The membrane performance was carried out using synthetic solutions from humic acid and tap water to express the contaminated drinking water. The polyvinylidene difluoride (M2) has the highest tensile strength 33.2 MPa with elongation of 52.3%, while polyacrylonitrile (M3) has the lowest mechanical properties, tensile strength 16.4 MPa with elongation of 42.7%. Polyethersulfone membrane (M1) provides the highest removal of humic acid, which was 99.5, 98.8, and 98.2% using feed concentrations 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5 g/l, respectively, while M3 provides the highest permeate flux which was 250, 234.4, and 201.4 l/m2 h using feed concentrations 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5 g/l, respectively. Analysis of water samples indicates that the prepared membranes can be used to treat the contaminated drinking water which produced the high quality of drinking water after treatment.
Highlights
Fresh water is a vital resource for human life and ecosystem
N-Methyl pyrrolidone (NMP) was used as a solvent, polyvinylpyrrolidone K 90 (PVP K90) was used as a pore former, and they were purchased from Roth (India)
M2 represents Polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) membrane where the surface of the membrane displays the smallest pore size compared with PES and PAN, because the molecular weight of PVDF is the highest one, which was 390,000 g/mol, where PES was 62000 g/mol and PAN 53000 g/mol
Summary
Fresh water is a vital resource for human life and ecosystem. The earth is covered with 72% water, while 97% of this water is not suitable for drinking because it is salty water [1,2,3]. During the last few decades, the membrane technology is selected over other technologies for desalination and wastewater purification This attributed to its high efficiency, saving energy, high capacity, low cost, and eases in operation for the production of clean water [4, 5]. Polymeric membrane can be classified according to its pore size and filtration process. For MF, the pore size ranges from 1 to 0.1 μm It is applied for the separation of colloids, macromolecules, bacteria, and other particulates. Dense surface of membrane to remove divalent ions and trivalent ions with a pore size range of 0.1-0.001 μm, while monovalent ions are separated using reverse osmosis membranes [11,12,13,14,15]. Membrane performance was tested using synthetic solutions of drinking water contaminated with humic acid to be as a contaminated drinking water by sewage wastewater
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