Oily Waste Water Treatment by Nano Titanium Dioxide Modified Polyethersulfone Membranes

The aim of this study is to reduce the fouling of polyethersulfone (PES) ultrafiltration membranes whichused in treatment of oily waste water. For this purpose, at first titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles of quantum size inrutile crystal structure were prepared by hydrothermal method, then the PES membranes were fabricated via phaseinversion technique and the membrane surface was modified by corona treatment, finally TiO2 nanoparticles weredeposited on the membrane surface by a dip coating technique. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by XrayPowder Diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis. The fabricated membranes wereused for treatment of a synthetic oily wastewater. It was observed that the surface treatment and modification ofmembrane by adding hydrophilic nanoparticles improved the permeation flux of oil/water mixture and reduced the fluxdecline and membrane fouling. Also, the experimental results indicated that the rejection of modified membranes washigher than the neat PES membrane.

Keywords:

TiO2 nanoparticles , Polyethersulfone (PES) ultrafiltration membrane , Surface modification , Fouling