Fabrication of Polysulfone - Zeolite Nanocomposite Membrane for Water and Wastewater Treatment Applications

Abstract

Freshwater is essential in sustaining human life on the planet and the demand for potable water has increased for the past years due to population growth and modernization. However, the natural resources of water have become polluted/contaminated due to industrialization and other human activities. The development of membrane technology, especially with the creation of nanocomposite materials, provides a solution to treat polluted or contaminated water through various separation processes resulting in the production of clean water fit for human consumption. In this study, polysulfone was added with zeolite nanoparticles to fabricate nanocomposite membranes via non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) method to enhance the hydrophilicity and mechanical strength of the membrane suitable for water and wastewater applications. The nanozeolite was added in varying concentrations; 1% 5% and 10% and the fabricated membranes were characterized via Contact Angle Goniometer, universal testing machine (UTM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to determine the contact angle, tensile strength, and surface morphology, respectively. Based on the characterization data, the 1% concentration showed the highest tensile strength and the lowest contact angle measurement. The 1% nanozeolite concentration is the optimum membrane formulation due to the enhanced hydrophilicity and mechanical strength of the material.