Metal ferrite incorporated polysulfone thin-film nanocomposite membranes for wastewater treatment

Effluents from food, fermentation, and sugar industries contain a large quantity of glucose which has to be removed to limit the chemical oxygen demand (COD) of the water discharged. This work proposes novel thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes incorporated with MgFe2O4 and ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles to address this concern. The nanoparticles synthesized by the sol-gel method was extensively characterized and then incorporated into the active polyamide layer of the thin-film composite polysulfone membranes. The change in membrane morphology, wettability, chemical structure, and mechanical strength with the incorporation of nanoparticles was studied in detail. Membranes with 0.005 wt.% MgFe2O4 nanoparticle exhibited highest glucose rejection (96.52 +/- 2.35%) at 10 bar, 25 degrees C, and sufficiently high pure water flux (50.54 +/- 1.92 L/m(2)h). This membrane also displayed 69.1 +/- 5.12% salt rejection when challenged with 2000 ppm synthetic NaCl solution.

Automated summary

This study successfully addressed the issue of removing glucose from effluents in food, fermentation, and sugar industries, while ensuring compliance with COD standards for water discharge. By incorporating MgFe2O4 and ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles, the thin-film nanocomposite membranes achieved a glucose rejection rate of 96.52%.