Natural organic matter removal by electrospun nanofiber membranes coated with heated aluminum oxide particles

Abstract

The removal of natural organic matter (NOM) from water was studied using polyacrylonitrile (PAN) electrospun nanofibrous membrane (ENM) coated with HAOPs (heated aluminum oxide particles). The removal efficiencies of virgin PAN and HAOP-coated PAN were examined and the suitability of PAN as a support material for HAOPs was studied.The membranes were characterized with Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscope and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (SEM-EDS) as well as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Several analytical techniques were applied to both the feed and the permeate to assess the effectiveness of NOM removal.In filtration of lake water, HAOPs efficiency in NOM removal was 56% measured by UV254 absorbance, but when it comes to virgin PAN membrane the removal efficiency was only 13%. In case of filtration of NOM's high molecular weight component, such as humic acid (HA), the rejection rate of HA was maintained above 97% of aromatic compounds of NOM, and above 43% of total organic carbon (TOC).Additionally, HA adsorption by HAOPs were fitted to isotherm models such as Langmuir and Freundlich models. The results showed that Langmuir model could fit the data better than Freundlich model. The kinetics of HA adsorption by HAOPs were also fitted to the pseudo-first order and pseudo-second order and for the initial HA concentration of 19.9 mg/L the pseudo-first order equation fitted the experimental data better with correlation coefficient of R2 = 0.8336.The results demonstrate that PAN ENM filtration has the potential to be employed as a pretreatment in water treatment and HAOP-coated PAN ENM can significantly enhance the removal of NOM.