Development of Novel Fouling-Resistant Hollow Fibre Nanocomposite Membrane Augmented with Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for Efficient Rejection of Bisphenol A from Water: Fouling, Permeability, and Mechanism Studies

Abstract

Recently, frequent discharge of water-ladened emerging organic pollutants such as Bisphenol A has generated serious concern owing to its harmful effects on public safety and the ecological environment. Hematite nanoparticles (Fe 2 O 3 ) were synthesized via the sol-gel auto-combustion procedure and utilized as a nano ller to fabricate a PVDF-PEG/Fe 2 O 3 nanocomposite hollow bre membrane with enhanced antifouling properties. A series of membranes comprising various loadings (1.0-2.0 wt.%) of Fe 2 O 3 NPs were fabricated through the phase inversion technique and thoroughly analyzed. The developed Fe 2 O 3membrane bres were thoroughly characterized. The performance of the membrane bres was investigated through permeation ux, BPA rejection, as well as antifouling characteristics. Based on the results obtained, the resultant nanocomposite membrane bres exhibited superior performance in comparison with the pristine bre. Also, the nanocomposite membrane with 1.5 wt.%-Fe 2 O 3 NPs exhibited remarkable performance with − 43.7 mV, 56.3º, 191.85 L/m 2 -h, 86.7%, and 12% of negatively charged zeta potential, least contact angle, water permeation ux, BPA rejection, and minimum weight loss, respectively. Besides, the 1.5 wt-Fe 2 O 3 NPs nanocomposite membrane demonstrated superior antifouling performance after the third ltration, accomplishing a higher percent of FRR (77.35%) along with RFR of 21.29%, respectively. Hence, based on the performance of the fabricated hollow-bre membranes loaded with Fe 2 O 3 NPs, e cient antifouling membranes was achieved which can be suitably applied in the puri cation of industrial wastewater.