Abstract:
Iron oxide nanomaterial have a great potential for the degradation of halogenated
organics, nitrates, sulfates and heavy metals. The present investigation reports the
effect of iron oxide nanoparticles on the morphological, porosity, contact angle,
water flux, and heavy metal rejection properties of the polyvinyldiene fluoride
(PVDF) microfiltration membranes for treatment of industrial waste water. Iron
oxide particles were synthesized using co-precipitation method. X-ray diffraction
(XRD) analysis showed crystalline face-centered nano-particles with average
diameter of 17-18 nm observed under scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Induced
concentrations of 1, 3, and 5wt% of the functionalized nanoparticles were
impregnated in the optimized polymer wt % membrane solution to fabricate nano
composite membranes. Immersion precipitation method was applied to fabricate
membranes and generate micro porosity. Different techniques were used to study
the morphology and microstructure of nanocomposite membranes includes scanning
electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and Fourier transform
infrared spectroscopy (FTIR).
The average pore size within the membrane reduced, and ultrapure water flux
diminished with increasing functionalized nanoparticle concentration in the polymer
solution and nano fillers into the matrix ratio, respectively. The rejection studies
were investigated at different concentrations of heavy metals aqueous solution
including cadmium, lead, chromium and copper using dead end filtration cell
(Amicon, Model 8400, and Millipore-USA). Atomic absorption spectroscopy results
show high sorption of lead followed by copper, cadmium and chromium at 1ppm
concentration using the 3wt% nanoparticle containing membrane.
