Abstract:
In this work treatment of oily waste water was studied with the help of polymeric
membranes. Membranes were composed of polymeric blend having cellulose acetate
and nylon 66 which was never used for membrane purposes. Results of rejection and
flux were compared with commercial cellulose acetate membranes. Membranes were
synthesized with the help of solution casting. Nylon 66 is a man made synthetic polymer
having extraordinary mechanical properties. It is due to its mechanical and thermal
properties that it has become the most widely used polymeric material. Membranes were
characterized with the help of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in order to examine
morphology of the membrane as well as impact of change in solvent on overall structure
of the membrane. Mechanical and thermal properties of blended membranes as well as
commercial membrane were also examined with the help of thermal gravimetric analysis
(TGA), universal tensile testing machine (UTM). Characterizations of membrane
revealed that blending of membrane showed increase in thermal and mechanical
properties of membrane as that of commercial membrane. Membranes were tested for
flux as well as rejection of oil as a function of nylon 66 compositions and transmembrane
pressure. Result showed that synthetic membrane composed of 2% nylon 66
and DMSO as a solvent give high flux up to 30 L/m².h as well as rejection of oil up to
90% whereas commercial membrane showed flux of 22 L/m².hr and rejection up to
70%.
