Nanoparticle Incorporated Membranes for Industrial Wastewater Treatment

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.