Smart Membranes for Water Remediation Using Different Biomasses”

Abstract

Water pollution is a serious problem that faces the whole world, it occurs when contaminants are found in polluted water. There are many methods used to purify and decontaminate polluted water. Traditional methods like sedimentation and activated charcoal for purification were found to be inefficient. So, the aim of this study is to use recent methods for the preparation of a fully functioning smart membrane, Ultra filtration is one of the newest methods used for water purification. Cellulose acetate is the most important & the main constituent in the membrane formulation which can be obtained from relatively cheap materials that is found in wastes of agriculture such as rice husk. The objectivity of this study is to prepare ultrafiltration membrane using phase inversion technique using different methods. The work begins with the following steps. First, preparation of ultrafiltration membrane using CA, PVA and NMP as the solvent. Then, ultrafiltration membrane is prepared using DMAC as a solvent, PVP, CA and the addition of acetone as a cosolvent. This method of membrane preparation focused on preparing different membrane ratios and choosing the best membrane showing intact, homogenous and clear membrane formation. At last, the same ultrafiltration membrane was prepared like the previous method but by the addition of plasticizer like PEG for pore size and elasticity improvement. Then, membrane characterization test like SEM, H-NMR & FT-IR were done to identify membrane’s morphological structure. Following that, HPLC test is performed for testing the adsorption properties of different prepared membranes with different ratios in order to identify the removal rate of ciprofloxacin from the prepared ultrafiltration membrane. Results showed that the prepared membrane removed about 40% of ciprofloxacin from water. lastly, a comparative study will be performed between the investigated membrane filters and then choosing the highest adsorption membrane for water purification.