Development of Copper-Aluminum Layered Double Hydroxide in Thin Film Nanocomposite Nanofiltration Membrane for Water Purification Process

Abstract

This study aims to fabricate a thin film composite (TFC) membrane, modified with copper-aluminium layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanofillers via interfacial polymerization technique for nanofiltration (NF) processes. It was found that Cu-Al LDH nanofillers possessed layered structured materials with typical hexagonal plate-like shape and positive surface charge. The study revealed that TFN membrane exhibits a relatively smooth surface and a less nodular structure compared to pristine TFC membrane. The contact angle of TFN progressively decreased from 54.1° to 37.25°, indicating enhancement in surface hydrophilicity. Moreover, the incorporation of LDH nanofillers resulted in a less negative membrane as compared to the pristine TFC membrane. The best NF performance was achieved by TFN2 membrane with 0.1° of Cu-Al LDH loading and a water flux of 7.01 Lm-2h-1.bar. The addition of Cu-Al LDH resulted in excellent single salt rejections of Na2SO4 (96.8%), MgCl2 (95.6%), MgSO4 (95.4%), and NaCl (60.8%). The improvement in anti-fouling properties of resultant TFN membranes can be observed from the increments of pure water flux recovery and normalized water flux by 14% and 25% respectively. The findings indicated that Cu-Al LDH is a promising material in tailoring membrane surface properties and fouling resistance. The modification of the LDH-filled TFN membrane shows another alternative to fabricating a high-performance composite membrane, especially for water softening and partial desalination process.

Pressure-Driven Membrane Process: A Review of Advanced Technique for Heavy Metals Remediation

“…Nanofiltration (NF) possesses properties between those of UF and Reverse osmosis (RO), and therefore the pore size is usually less than 2 nm, corresponding to an MWCO of 100-1000 Da [63]. The presence of surface functional groups and their dissociation provides charge to these membranes.…”

Graphene oxide/multi‐walled carbon nanotubes nanocompsite polyamide nanofiltration membrane for dyeing‐printing wastewater treatment

“…Fabrication of thin film composite (TFC) NF membranes by interfacial polymerization has provided significant advantages owing to its unique structures such as ultra‐thin selective layer and porous substrate. Membrane properties can be optimized by controlling the characteristics of the selective layer and porous substrate 8‐10 . In recent years, with the discovery of some excellent nanomaterials, many people have tried to introduce them into the selective layer or the porous substrate to prepare NF membranes with excellent performance 11,12 .…”

“…In recent years, with the discovery of some excellent nanomaterials, many people have tried to introduce them into the selective layer or the porous substrate to prepare NF membranes with excellent performance 11,12 . Therefore, fabrication of thin film nanocomposite membranes (TFN) has become a new method to improve membrane properties 9 …”

Assessing the Performance of Thin-Film Nanofiltration Membranes with Embedded Montmorillonites

“…With the rapid advancement of nanotechnology, researchers focus on developing nanoparticles to improve the TFC membranes. These nanoparticles are silica [29,31], silver [30,32], graphene or graphene oxide [33,34], zeolites [35,36], nanoclays [37][38][39][40][41][42][43], quantum dots [44,45], and carbon nanotubes [46,47]. TFC membranes with embedded nanoparticles are called thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes [48,49].…”