Preparation and characterization of polyvinyl chloride membranes and their fouling behavior in water purification

Abstract

In the present study, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) membranes were used to improve water purification and fouling performance. Porous PVC flat sheet membranes were produced using the phase inversion method. The polymer concentration in casting solution varied from 11 to 17 wt%. Water contact angles, pore size, overall porosity and scanning electron microscopy were used for membrane characterization. The foulants such as bovine serum albumin (BSA) and humic acid (HA) were used to test the membranes' separation performance and fouling resistance. Contact angle increased from 79.6 ± 2.2° to 81.9 ± 1.0° as the polymer concentration increased, while overall porosity decreased from 72.0% to 61.9%. Results showed that BSA and HA permeate flux had similar trend by adding PVC. It was observed that BSA rejection enhanced from 54.8% to 80.7% while HA rejection increased from 76.3% to 88.3% with increasing PVC content. Permeate flux decreased by increase of PVC content due to reduction of porosity and pore size. Besides, the flux recovery ratio, reversible and irreversible fouling studies showed that better fouling observed with increasing of PVC content. The findings of this work show that PVC may be used to improve the separation and antifouling properties for water purification.

Magnetic‐field‐inducedFe3O4@CNTsdispersion in the separation layer to improve the performance of composite ultrafiltration membrane

“…Membrane materials primarily include organic polymer membranes and inorganic membranes 5,6 . In general, polymer membranes have superiority in aspects such as excellent film‐forming property, good flexibility, low cost, and easy to process, but they also possess the disadvantages of low mechanical strength, poor antipollution ability, and difficult to clean 7,8 .…”

“…3,4 Membrane materials primarily include organic polymer membranes and inorganic membranes. 5,6 In general, polymer membranes have superiority in aspects such as excellent film-forming property, good flexibility, low cost, and easy to process, but they also possess the disadvantages of low mechanical strength, poor antipollution ability, and difficult to clean. 7,8 The inorganic membranes have excellent thermal stability, corrosion resistance, antipollution performance, high mechanical strength, and easy to clean, but they also possess the disadvantages of high cost, poor flexibility, and difficult to process.…”

Fabrication of Chitosan‐β‐cyclodextrin‐Fe nanofibers for the adsorption of As‐III from aqueous solution using a lab‐scale filtration system

“…The Fe 2 O 3 nanofibers have been reported for gas sensors, magnetic devices, information storage, and heavy metal adsorption. [28][29][30] In this study, we have fabricated the chitosan, β-cyclodextrin, and Ferric oxide (CS-βCD-Fe 2 O 3 ) membranes for As (III) adsorption. At first, the batch adsorption study was conducted by varying different factors such as pH, mass of nanofibers, contact time, and concentrations.…”

“…Metal oxides such as ZnO, TiO 2 , and Fe 2 O 3 have been used in nanofibers to enhance the properties of the membranes such as tensile strength, pH tolerance range, mass transfer rate, mitigate the membrane fouling, and selectivity. The Fe 2 O 3 nanofibers have been reported for gas sensors, magnetic devices, information storage, and heavy metal adsorption 28–30 …”