Fabrication of nanocomposite membrane based on polysulfone and modified Titanium oxide nanoparticles and its performance in industrial wastewater treatment using osmotic membrane bioreactor process

Research subject: 

Osmosis membrane bioreactor is one of the best industrial wastewater treatment methods. The main advantage of using osmosis process is its operation at low hydraulic pressures which has a better performance in removing pollutants and low energy consumption than other methods                        

Research approach: 

In this research, Nano porous Titanium dioxide powder with a specific surface area and anatase wall was synthesized through a thermal process using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as a surfactant directing agent and a pore-creating agent.Ultrafiltration nanocomposite membranes were made using modified titanium dioxide (TiO2) (MT) and polysulfone (PSf) by phase the inversion method. The morphology and structure of the prepared membranes and nanoparticles were investigated using by atomic fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy(FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In this research, bovine serum albumin (BSA) was used as simulated wastewater for the feed solution. The fabricated ultrafiltration membranes were tested in osmosis membrane bioreactor (OMBR) system due to lower energy and fouling. 0.6 % solution of poly (sodium 4-styrene sulfonate) was used as an osmotic solution. Comparative separation performance and antifouling properties of both nanocomposites in several analyzes such as water contact angle measurement, pure water flux and filtration of different concentrations of bovine serum albumin solution. BSA and fouling resistance have been investigated.

 TThe results that Due to the addition of MT nanoparticles to the polymer matrix, the hydrophilicity and surface energy of the membrane increased, which led to the improvement of the membrane performance. The membrane containing 1% titanium oxide nanoparticles showed the best result. For example, for feeding with a concentration of 200 ppm, the water flux increased from 20 to 38.5 L/ m2 h, and the percentage of returning lethal solution decreased from 19.6 to 30 g/ m2 h. The flux recovery in this membrane was 96%, which indicates the antifouling property of the modified nanocomposite membrane.