In this study, the antifouling properties of polyethersulfone (PES) membranes blended with different amounts of ZnO nanoparticles and a fixed ratio of N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP)-acetone mixture as a solvent were investigated. The properties and performance of the fabricated membranes were examined in terms of hydrophilicity, porosity, pore size, surface and cross-section image using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), surface roughness using atomic force microscopy (AFM), pure water flux, and humic acid filtration. Addition of ZnO as expected was found to improve the hydrophilicity as well as to encourage pore formation. However, the agglomeration of ZnO at a higher concentration cannot be avoided even when dissolved in a mixed solvent. The presence of highly volatile acetone contributed to the tight skin layer of the membrane which shows remarkable antifouling ability with the highest flux recovery ratio and negligible irreversible fouling. ZnO NPs in acetone/NMP mixed solvent shows an improvement in flux and rejection, but, the fouling resistance was moderate compared to the pristine membrane.

The purpose of this study is to explore the emulsion liquid membrane stability for acetaminophen (ACTP) removal from aqueous solution. In this work, the membrane phase was prepared by dissolving trioctylamine (TOA) with kerosene and Span80. The stability of the emulsion in terms of emulsion size, membrane breakage, and its efficiency in removing ACTP was considered for the optimization of parameters. Investigation on the stability of emulsion was carried out by manipulating the concentration of stripping agent, agitation speed, extraction time, and treat ratio. The best condition to produce a very stable emulsion was achieved at 0.1 M of stripping agent concentration, with 300 rpm of agitation speed for 3 min of extraction time with a treat ratio of 3:1. Eighty-five percent of ACTP successfully stripped into the emulsion with minimum membrane breakage of 0.17% through this experiment.

This work aims to improve the lithium ion conductivity by incorporating titanium dioxide (TiO2) in Polyvinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene (PVDF-HFP) and Cellulose acetate (CA) electrolyte membrane. The morphology of the prepared membrane was observed using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and the ability of the membrane to uptake liquid electrolyte was also tested. The SEM results show that the electrolyte membrane has porous, interconnected network but the addition of TiO2 resulted in a reduction in porosity. Despite reduced porosity, the electrolyte uptake of PVDF-HFP+CA+TiO2 is the highest among others with value up to 287.5%, this increase is due to the improvement in the amorphous phase. The ionic conductivity increases by 21.29% compared to PVDF-HFP electrolyte membrane with the addition of TiO2. The generation of more mobile lithium ion and prevention of crystallization of polymer through Lewis acid-base reaction leads to improvement in ionic conductivity.

The aim of this study is to develop a stable emulsion liquid membrane for acetaminophen removal through membrane breakage. In this work, Trioctylamine (TOA), Span 80 and kerosene were used as carrier, surfactant and diluent, respectively in membrane phase while ammonia solution was used as a stripping agent in the internal phase. Research was conducted on various parameters such as stripping agent concentration, agitation speed, extraction time and treat ratio. The stripping agent concentration was varied from 0.05 M to 0.2 M while agitation speed was investigated at 200 rpm to 500 rpm. The best condition achieved for acetaminophen removal from aqueous solution via emulsion liquid membrane were at 0.1M of stripping agent using 300 rpm agitation speed for 3 minutes of extraction time with a treat ratio of 3:1. Investigation on membrane breakage revealed the lowest membrane breakage achieved was 0.17%.