Abstract
Membrane reusability determines the economic sustainability of separation process. However, the reusability of membrane was deduced by the antifouling properties, while the actual reuse performance of membrane using palm oil mill effluent (POME) is rarely reported. This study investigates the reusability of nano-Fe3O4/PVDF (PVDF1) membrane for POME treatment. The chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solid (TSS) of permeate, molecular weight cut off (MWCO), pure water flux (PWF) and contact angle (CA) of membranes were also determined. Result showed that the neat membrane (PVDF0) and PVDF1 exhibited ~77°, ~342 L/(m2.h) and ~70°, 278 L/(m2.h) for CA and PWF, respectively, due to the small MWCO in PVDF1. The POME flux was maintained at ~16 L/(m2.h) in 5 cycles of filtration process. The COD rejection was higher for PVDF 1 compared to PVDF0, and PVDF1 showed consistent ~58 % COD and ~98 % TSS removal in all the cycles. The good performance of PVDF1 due to the presence of nano-Fe3O4, improved the membrane hydrophilicity and tailored the membrane pore size for POME treatment.
 HIGHLIGHTS
 
 Membrane reusability determines the economic sustainability of separation process
 Nano-Fe3O4 improves the hydrophilicity of PVDF membrane
 Nano-Fe3O4 tailors the pore size of PVDF membrane for POME treatment
 POME flux was maintained at ~16 L/(m2.h) for 5 cycles of filtration process
 The membrane can be reused for minimum 5 cycles with consistent COD and TSS removal
 
 GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
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