Abstract
Phenol is regarded as a major pollutant, as the toxicity levels are in the range of 9–25 mg/L for aquatic life and humans. This study embedded silica sodalite (SSOD) and hydroxy sodalite (HSOD) nanoparticles into polysulfone (PSF) for enhancement of its physicochemical properties for treatment of phenol-containing wastewater. The pure polysulfone membranes and sodalite-infused membranes were synthesized via phase inversion. To check the surface morphology, surface hydrophilicity, surface functionality, surface roughness and measure the mechanical properties of the membranes, characterization techniques such as Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), contact angle measurements, Fourier Transform Infrared, Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) nanotensile tests were used, respectively. The morphology of the composite membranes showed incorporation of the sodalite crystals decreased the membrane porosity. The results obtained showed the highest contact angle of 83.81° for pure PSF as compared to that of the composite membranes. The composite membranes with 10 wt.% HSOD/PSF and 10 wt.% SSOD/PSF showed mechanical enhancement as indicated by a 20.96% and 19.69% increase in ultimate tensile strength, respectively compared to pure PSF. The performance evaluation of the membranes was done using a dead-end filtration cell at varied feed pressure. Synthetic phenol-containing wastewater was prepared by dissolving one gram of phenol crystals in 1 L of deionized water and used in this study. Results showed higher flux for sodalite infused membranes than pure PSF for both pure and phenol-containing water. However, pure PSF showed the highest phenol rejection of 93.55% as compared to 63.65% and 64.75% achieved by 10 wt.% HSOD/PSF and 10 wt.% SSOD/PSF, respectively. The two sodalite infused membranes have shown enhanced mechanical properties and permeability during treatment of phenol in synthetic wastewater.
Highlights
Phenols and other phenolic compounds are prevalent in various industrial effluents such as resin manufacturing, plastics, paper, paint, wood oil, petroleum refining, coal processing, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, and coking operations [1]
This study focuses on fabrication of fouling-resistant matrix membrane (MMM) for treatment of phenolcontaining wastewater consisting of polysulfone as the matrix base and silica sodalite as a filler
The morphology of the synthesized hydroxy sodalite (HSOD) and silica sodalite (SSOD) was evaluated with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) (Zeiss model)
Summary
Phenols and other phenolic compounds are prevalent in various industrial effluents such as resin manufacturing, plastics, paper, paint, wood oil, petroleum refining, coal processing, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, and coking operations [1]. Membrane fouling is the phenomenon caused by the accumulation of biological species, inorganic, organic and colloidal, onto the membrane surface or within its pores It results in flux decline and a rapidly increasing transmembrane pressure during operation, and the possible deterioration of mechanical strength [7,8]. There are limited studies on the application of hydroxy sodalite infused composite membranes and the silica sodalite infused composite membranes for treatment of phenol-containing water. This study reports the separation performance of fabricated membranes (hydroxy sodalite infused PSF and silica sodalite infused PSF) during the treatment of phenol-containing wastewater
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