Polycarbonate/copper oxide mixed matrix membrane for separation of lead and cadmium from industrial effluents

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this study, PC/CuO ultrafiltration adsorptive mixed matrix membranes (AMMM) were synthesized using phase inversion method to remove lead (Pb (II)) and cadmium (Cd (II)) from a petrochemical plant synthetic effluent. The effects of CuO on pure water flux, hydrophilicity, porosity and membrane adsorption capacity were studied. FESEM and AFM tests were used to investigate the structure and surface roughness of the prepared membrane. The results showed that by increasing the loading of CuO in AMMM, the total porosity, average pore size, hydrophilicity, surface roughness and water flux increased. The heavy metal adsorption on PC/CuO-AMMMs were adequately interpreted by the Langmuir isotherm. Our findings showed that the membrane produced with the highest loading of CuO had the highest adsorption capacity and offers a maximum adsorption capacity of 22.9 and 21.6 g/m2 for lead and cadmium respectively. By placing the cation-saturated AMMMs in a regeneration solution, up to 95% and 94%, respectively, for lead and cadmium adsorption recovery was experienced. This indicates the reversibility of the fabricated membranes to remove lead and cadmium cations via a simple regeneration method in a multicycle process.