Polysulfone Membrane Tests for Nutrients Reclamation of Kenaf Retted Wastewater

Abstract

Water retting is the main challenge faced during the processing of bast kenaf plants. This conventional method has been reported to generate much water pollution. A lab-scale experiment was performed using two different polysulfone membranes to investigate the effect of additive towards the permeability performance and nutrients reclamation efficiency of kenaf retted wastewater. From the experiment, it may be concluded that polysulfone membrane with 10wt.% of polyvinyl-pyrrolidone concentration can be used effectively to reclaimed nutrients. Tests with polysulfone membrane without additive achieved more than 75% and a polysulfone membrane with 10% additive practically reclaimed more than 85% of nutrients from kenaf retted wastewater. Nutrients analysis indicated that total nitrogen, total phosphorus and pottasium could be reclaimed and can be reuse as liquid fertilizer.