Preparation of thermo-responsive PNIPAAm-MWCNT membranes and evaluation of its antifouling properties in dairy waste water

Publication date: Available online 20 May 2019Source: Materials Science and Engineering: CAuthor(s): Zeynab Yaghoubi, Jalal Basiri ParsaAbstractA novel MWCNT-PNIPAAm nanocomposite membrane was developed with an excellent cleaning efficiency of thermo-responsive surface. The thermo-responsive N-isopropyleacryleamide (NIPAAm) monomer was polymerized on the surface of MWCNT via free radical polymerization. The prepared MWCNT-PNIPAAm nanocomposite was characterized by FTIR, SEM and TGA analyses. Various amounts of the prepared nanocomposite were incorporated into the membrane matrix by the physical blending method. The resultant membranes showed better surface wettability and pure water flux compared to pristine Polyethersolfone (PES) membrane. Furthermore, after filtration, the COD value of dairy wastewater was reduced to around 90% for all membranes. The thermo-responsive cleaning method was employed to investigate the cleaning efficiency of MWCNT-PNIPAAm membrane for dairy wastewater. The 99.9% flux recovery ratio was obtained for MWCNT-PNIPAAm-0.05% membranes. All these results confirmed that the presence of MWCNT-PNIPAAm nanocomposite in the membrane matrix improves the membrane hydrophilicity and antifouling properties.Graphical abstract
Source: Materials Science and Engineering: C - Category: Materials Science Source Type: research