Polysulfone and cellulose acetate-based membranes' potential application to photocatalytic membrane reactors

Abstract

Polysulfone (Psf) and Cellulose acetate (Ac-Cel) based membranes were synthesized via immersion precipitation–phase inversion techniques, starting from initial polymeric solutions with concentrations of 8%, 10%, and 12%. Each membrane was characterized from a morphological point of view by scanning electronic microscopy and from compositional point of view by thermal analyses. Hydrodunamic characteristics were also determined for all membranes using both ultrapure water and real municipal wastewater. Obtained results proved that polysulfone and cellulose acetate based membranes are potential candidates to be used for advanced treatment of municipal wastewater using photocatalytic membrane reactors.

Performance of a Solar-Driven Photocatalytic Membrane Reactor for Municipal Wastewater Treatment

“…Both synthesised doped catalysts exhibit higher efficiencies compared with commercial TiO2, for which a COD removal efficiency of only 25.00% was reached after 7 h of irradiation. The results are in good correlation with previous research on the degradation of organic compounds using Fe-doped TiO2 catalysts [25]. This fact is also supported by the linearised pseudo-first-order kinetic equations concerning COD removal (presented in Figure 11).…”

“…Both synthesised doped catalysts exhibit higher efficiencies compared with commercial TiO 2 , for which a COD removal efficiency of only 25.00% was reached after 7 h of irradiation. The results are in good correlation with previous research on the degradation of organic compounds using Fe-doped TiO 2 catalysts [25]. The iron-doped catalyst thermally treated at 400 °C-FT2-proved to achieve the highest COD removal efficiency (85.71%) after 7 h of irradiation compared with the FT1 sample (annealed at 300 °C), which achieved a COD removal efficiency of 66.67% (see Table 4).…”

“…The polysulfone-based membrane was prepared via a phase inversion process, an immersion precipitation technique using polysulfone (Psf) M w = 35,000 g/mol (Sigma Aldrich) as the base polymer, and 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), purity >99.5% (Merck), as a solvent. Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) K30 (40,000 g/mol) (Fluka, Paris, France) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) 400, Mw = 3500-4000 g/mol (Scharlau, Hamburg, Germany) were used as additives [25]. Ultrapure water was obtained using Milli-Q Integral 15 (Merck, Millipore, Darmstadt, Germany) equipment and was used as a non-solvent in the coagulation bath.…”