Chitosan/Polyethersulfone Composite Nanofiltration Membrane for Industrial Wastewater Treatment

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of New Sciences and Technologies, University of Tehran, Tehran, I. R. Iran

2 Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, I. R. Iran

3 Department of Biomaterials, Iran Polymer and Petrochemical Institute, Tehran, I. R. Iran

4 Advanced Membrane Technology Research Centre (AMTEC), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia

Abstract

Chitosan/polyethersulfone (CS/PES) composite membrane was prepared from casting chitosan solution on
polyethersulfone substrate membrane. The Substrate membrane was prepared by phase inversion technique
using polyethersulfone (PES) and dimethylacetamide (DMAc) as solvent with and without the addition of
polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as pore-forming agent. The effects of the composition of the casting solution
on membrane morphology and water permeation were investigated. The membrane prepared from 15 wt %
PES with 2.25 wt % PVP demonstrated better water permeability compared to other compositions. CS/PES
composite membrane flux and retention were 5.2 lit/m2hr and 76.15%, respectively. The mean pore size of the composite membrane was calculated as 0.99 nm.

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