Preparation of polysulfone titanium di oxide mixed matrix hollow fiber membrane and elimination of long term fouling by in situ photoexcitation during filtration of phenolic compounds

Abstract

Study on in-situ photo-excitation assisted hollow fiber ultrafiltration for degradation of phenolic compounds is presented in this work using polysulfone titanium-di-oxide (TiO₂) mixed matrix membrane. Addition of nanoparticle (4 wt%) reduced the contact angle from 83° to 45° making the membrane more hydrophilic and made the membrane porous at the same time by increasing the average pore diameter was from 87 Å to 172 Å. Combined effect of these two phenomena led to almost 70% enhancement in permeability. Rejection of orthochlorophenol, phenol and meta-nitrophenol were 87%, 74% and 67% at 69 kPa transmembrane pressure and 10 l/h cross-flow rate. The developed fibers were tested with steel plant effluent successfully and total phenolics were reduced by 77%. Initial permeate flux decline was observed for 1 h and a steady state was reached thereafter at 24 l/m² h at demonstrating the preclusion of long term flux decline.