Juxtaposition of polyethersulfone composite membranes: Performance and antifouling capability

Wastewater treatment has become a pressing challenge due to the generation of its large amount by daily life usage and industrial processes. To this regard, membrane technology has been a household name for such treatment. In this work, three inorganic additives, namely silicon dioxide (SiO2), titanium oxide (TiO2) and zinc oxide (ZnO) were selected and blended with polyethersulfone (PES) to prepare a PES-composite membrane using the phase inversion technique. The effects of various inorganic additives on performance of as-membranes for oil water emulsion separation were evaluated via the cross-flow ultrafiltration process. Membranes embedded with TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) presents the highest permeate flux and pure water flux of 7.95 kg/m2. h and 21.68 kg/m2. h, respectively. Furthermore, it also presents the lowest fouling phenomenon among the membranes with relative flux reduction and flux recovery ratio of 63.33% and 48.57%, respectively. © Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, 2019.