Preparation of polysulfone titanium di oxide mixed matrix hollow fiber membrane and elimination of long term fouling by in situ photoexcitation during filtration of phenolic compounds

Abstract

Study on in-situ photo-excitation assisted hollow fiber ultrafiltration for degradation of phenolic compounds is presented in this work using polysulfone titanium-di-oxide (TiO2) mixed matrix membrane. Addition of nanoparticle (4wt%) reduced the contact angle from 83° to 45° making the membrane more hydrophilic and made the membrane porous at the same time by increasing the average pore diameter was from 87Å to 172Å. Combined effect of these two phenomena led to almost 70% enhancement in permeability. Rejection of orthochlorophenol, phenol and meta-nitrophenol were 87%, 74% and 67% at 69kPa transmembrane pressure and 10l/h cross-flow rate. The developed fibers were tested with steel plant effluent successfully and total phenolics were reduced by 77%. Initial permeate flux decline was observed for 1h and a steady state was reached thereafter at 24l/m2h at demonstrating the preclusion of long term flux decline.