Abstract
A novel polyethersulfone (PES)/microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) composite membrane for humic acid (HA) removal in water was fabricated using the phase inversion method by blending hydrophilic MCC with intrinsically hydrophobic PES in a lithium chloride/N,N-dimethylacetamide (LiCl/DMAc) co-solvent system. A rheological study indicated that the MCC-containing casting solutions exhibited a significant increase in viscosity, which directly influenced the composite membrane’s pore structure. Compared to the pristine PES membrane, the composite membranes have a larger surface pore size, elongated finger-like structure, and presence of sponge-like pores. The water contact angle and pure water flux of the composite membranes indicated an increase in hydrophilicity of the modified membranes. However, the permeability of the composite membranes started to decrease at 3 wt.% MCC and beyond. The natural organic matter removal experiments were performed using humic acid (HA) as the surface water pollutant. The hydrophobic HA rejection was significantly increased by the enhanced hydrophilic PES/MCC composite membrane via the hydrophobic–hydrophilic interaction and pore size exclusion. This study provides insight into the utilization of a low-cost and environmentally friendly additive to improve the hydrophilicity of PES membranes for efficient removal of HA in water.
Highlights
Membrane technologies are a promising alternative and have been continuously gaining popularity due to their intrinsic characteristics such as high selectivity, simple instrumental structure, environmental friendliness and low running investment [1]
A few studies have reported much higher water permeability than our studies, such as 485 L m−2 h−1 bar−1 (LMHB) [29] and 692 LMHB [31], when adopting cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) and LCNF in the PES matrix in the presence of a PVP hydrophilic pore former. This is due to the synergetic effect between the hydrophilic nanoparticle and the hydrophilic pore former used in the casting solution, which further increased the phase inversion rate and the membrane pore size
Microcrystalline cellulose (MCC)-incorporated PES composite membranes were fabricated by the phase inversion approach using the LiCl/DMAc co-solvent
Summary
Membrane technologies are a promising alternative and have been continuously gaining popularity due to their intrinsic characteristics such as high selectivity, simple instrumental structure, environmental friendliness and low running investment [1]. The modification approach includes coating, plasma deposition, graft polymerization, and blending to either introduce additive materials on the membrane surfaces or incorporate them into the membrane matrix. Have been used in the HA–water separation process These materials were incorporated into the membranes to enhance the membrane’s hydrophilicity, pore structures, mechanical properties, and/or surface charges. It has a high degree of crystallinity, between 55% and 80% [35,36,37] These unique properties of MCC make it a promising alternative additive to improve the hydrophilicity and mechanical strength of the PES membrane. This study is intended to report the hydrophilic composite membrane fabricated by integrating PES and MCC in the LiCl/DMAc co-solvent via the blending technique using a phase inversion method. The performance of the PES/MCC composite membrane in terms of PWF and HA rejection in relation to its properties was investigated
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