A New Polyvinylidene Fluoride Membrane Synthesized by Integrating of Powdered Activated Carbon for Treatment of Stabilized Leachate

Abstract

Stabilized landfill leachate contains a wide variety of highly concentrated non-biodegradable organics, which are extremely toxic to the environment. Though numerous techniques have been developed for leachate treatment, advanced membrane filtration is one of the most environmentally friendly methods to purify wastewater effectively. In the current study, a novel polymeric membrane was produced by integrating powdered activated carbon (PAC) on polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) to synthesize a thin membrane using the phase inversion method. The membrane design was optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). The fabricated membrane was effectively applied for the filtration of stabilized leachate using a cross-flow ring (CFR) test. The findings suggested that the filtration properties of fabricated membrane were effectively enhanced through the incorporation of PAC. The optimum removal efficiencies by the fabricated membrane (14.9 wt.% PVDF, 1.0 wt.% PAC) were 35.34, 48.71, and 22.00% for COD, colour and NH3-N, respectively. Water flux and transmembrane pressure were also enhanced by the incorporated PAC and recorded 61.0 L/m2·h and 0.67 bar, respectively, under the conditions of the optimum removal efficiency. Moreover, the performance of fabricated membranes in terms of pollutant removal, pure water permeation, and different morphological characteristics were systematically analyzed. Despite the limited achievement, which might be improved by the addition of a hydrophilic additive, the study offers an efficient way to fabricate PVDF-PAC membrane and to optimize its treatability through the RSM tool.

Wastewater Treatment: Current and Future Techniques

“…Wastewater and landfill leachate contain different organic and inorganic contaminants. Among the several techniques for removing a wide range of pollutants, membrane filtration could provide a suitable purification process [16]. By using a new polyvinylidene fluoride membrane synthesized by integrating powdered activated carbon, 35.3% of chemical oxygen demand, 48.7% of color, and 22% of ammonia were removed from landfill leachate [16].…”

“…Among the several techniques for removing a wide range of pollutants, membrane filtration could provide a suitable purification process [16]. By using a new polyvinylidene fluoride membrane synthesized by integrating powdered activated carbon, 35.3% of chemical oxygen demand, 48.7% of color, and 22% of ammonia were removed from landfill leachate [16]. In addition, different types of membrane techniques were discussed in terms of their performance in the treatment of poultry slaughterhouse wastewater [17].…”

Recent Advances on Membranes for Water Purification Based on Carbon Nanomaterials

“…Abuabdou et al [ 92 ] were able to obtain flat sheet membranes made of polyvinylidene fluoride with the addition of activated carbon powder. The resulting material showed significantly higher performance compared to unmodified polyvinylidene fluoride.…”

Improved disinfection byproduct removal using a polysulfone membrane loaded with powdered activated carbon

“…For example, Abid et al (2022) used polyester sulfone and modified AC to prepare a UF membrane and reported that 28% carbon gave the best antibacterial performance. Using 3.6% PAC in a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane improved flux and chemical oxygen demand removal (Abuabdou et al, 2021). In this work, we developed a flat‐sheet PAC membrane with higher carbon loading (>60%), which we hypothesized would improve chloroform removal capacity as well as microbial ( Escherichia coli and heterotrophic plate count [HPC] bacteria) reduction relative to other membranes.…”