Removal of Phenol from Sour Water by Poly(vinyl Alcohol)/Polyamide‐Reverse Osmosis Membranes

Abstract

A commercial thin‐film membrane (unmodified) of polyamide improved by poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)‐coated membranes (modified) was investigated for separating phenol in sour water by reverse osmosis. Dependences of pressure and pore surface area on flux and phenol rejection were tested. A graphical correlation was found between the relative flux decline and phenol concentration decrease in the feed. The modified membrane provided rejection of 86 % at 2 bar with the highest permeate flux of 8.46 L m−2h−1. The average contact angle for the former membrane was 58.4°, while that for the modified membrane was 49.1°. The reduction in contact angle enhances the surface hydrophilicity of the membrane leading to the antifouling effect. The modified membrane provides 95.4 % flux recovery compared to the unmodified membrane that provides only 66.2 %.

Single and Binary Adsorption of Benzene, Phenol, and p‐Nitrophenol: Effect of Physical Interactions

“…These compounds are toxic both to ecosystems and humans; they are low biodegradable even at low concentrations, carcinogenic, endocrine-disrupting, and mutagenic [1,5,6]. Consequently, strict environmental rules are set to control and minimize the effect of the mentioned compounds; hence steps to develop effective technologies to regulate the concentrations of these pollutants in water through various treatment technologies including biodegradation, oxidation, membrane separation, photocatalysis, and adsorption have been developed [7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. Although sophisticated methods are continuously proposed, adsorption particularly on activated carbons remains the most commonly used given its advantages such as low cost for reagents and devices, short process, and easy operation [3,5,14].…”