Water Purification using Recycled Polymeric Microfiltration Membranes

Khaled, Mostafa; Noby, H.; Mansor, Eman S.; El-Shazly, A. H.; Aissa, W. A.

doi:10.21608/ijaes.2020.169930

Water Purification using Recycled Polymeric Microfiltration Membranes

Document Type : Original papers

Authors

¹ Materials Engineering and Mechanical Design, Faculty of Energy Engineering, Aswan University Aswan, Egypt

² Water Pollution Dep., Environmental Research Division National Research Centre, Giza, Egypt

³ Chemical and Petrochemicals Engineering Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology (E-JUST) Alexandria, Egypt

⁴ Mechanical Engineering Department Faculty of Energy Engineering, Aswan University Aswan, Egypt

10.21608/ijaes.2020.169930

Abstract

In our previous work, microfiltration membranes were successfully manufactured by non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) method using two concentrations (30 and 35 wt%) of recycled high impact polystyrene (HIPS-R). N, Ndimethyl formamide (DMF) was used as solvent and water as a coagulation bath. These membranes were characterized in terms of chemical composition, surface hydrophilicity, surface crosssection morphology, porosity, and pores size distribution. Accordingly, the membrane's surfaces showed a semihydrophilic behavior with contact angles of 81o and 91o for 30 wt% and 35 wt% membranes respectively. In the current study, The prepared membranes were examined for the removal of Humic acid (HA) and Rhodamine B (RhB) dye in a microfiltration process. Filtration experiment showed that pure water flux of 30 wt% membrane was higher than of 35 wt% membrane, also 30 wt% membrane has a higher humic acid and Dye removal efficiency than of 35 wt% membrane. Thus, the results suggest active membranes could be obtained using recycled high-impact polystyrene. And then, solve the polymer waste accumulation problem in parallel with help in drinking water crisis solution.

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