NOVEL POLYSULFONE /GO MEMBRANE SYNTHESIS, CHARACTERIZATION AND APPLICATION

Abstract

The availability of fresh water is continuously decreasing due to the rapid increase in the demand for clean water. This problem is at its highest critical levels in GCC and similar regions as the main source of fresh and clean water is desalination. Water treatment using membrane processes are considered to be one the most efficient technologies to provide clean water due to their lower energy consumption compared to the thermal desalination techniques (desalination system used in GCC region) and their high permeate water quality. The drop in the energy consumption required (generated from oil and natural gas) will reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and their effect on the global warming. However, current membrane systems possess many operational challenges. One of the biggest issues is membrane fouling. In addition to that, mechanical failure of membranes is another critical issue which has been reported in the literature. Both fouling and mechanical failures result in reducing membrane lifespan and increasing its operational cost, and hence reducing continuous access to clean water at affordable cost. Therefore, in this thesis, a novel membrane type with enhanced antifouling and mechanical property is synthesized. Nanocomposite membranes are fabricated using c (PS) blended with Arabic gum (AG) and different ratios of Graphene Oxide (GO) via phase inversion method. Fabricated membranes are characterized for their morphology, hydrophilicity, oil rejection, mechanical and thermal properties. The effects of incorporating AG and GO on the PS membrane morphology and its cross section are investigated using scanning electron microscope (SEM). The mechanical strength of the fabricated membranes is measured using Dynamic Mechanical analysis (DMA) in tensile mode and burst test. Moreover, thermal properties and stability of these membranes are also determined by Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).Finally, the fouling performance of the nanocomposite membranes are evaluated for Bovine serum albumin (BSA) protein solution. Accordingly, the optimum blending of 1%AG and 0.1% GO resulted in 80% enhancement in both ultimate strength and Young’s modulus, and 50% in yield strength. In addition to that, its water permeability is enhanced by approximately five-fold compared to the neat PS. Furthermore, the addition of AG-GO in polysulfone membranes reduced the interaction between the BSA protein and membrane surface and hence enhanced the flux recovery ratio by 7%. From these results, it is concluded that the PS-AG-GO nanocomposite membranes have excellent properties and therefore it is suitable for water treatment.

Date of Award	2017
Original language	American English
Awarding Institution	HBKU College of Science and Engineering