Abstract
In recent years new sustainable technology for wastewater treatment has emerged, and among them, forward osmosis (FO) has gained importance. FO utilizes osmotic pressure difference across the semipermeable membrane as the driving force to concentrate the wastewater. Further, the surface and physical properties of the semipermeable FO membrane play a crucial role during the FO process in reducing the internal concentration polarization. In general, FO membranes are prepared using cellulose acetate (CA) polymer due to their high hydrophilic nature. However, CA membranes are mechanically unstable for the FO process. Hence, to increase the mechanical strength and flexibility of CA, other polymers are blended along with it. In this present study, we have prepared a phase-inversion membrane using CA blended with polycaprolactone (PCL) polymers. Further, to increase the hydrophilicity of the membrane, a thin-film composite (TFC) layer of polyamide is coated using interfacial polymerization. To increase the antifouling properties of the membrane, graphene oxide (GO) and copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles (NPs) are incorporated inside the TFC matrix. The prepared NPs and membrane were characterized using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXD), and contact angle. Further, the GO-CuO incorporated TFC coating has improved the hydrophilicity and antifouling properties of the membrane. It was observed that the water flux has increased up to 5 LMH, and reverse solute flux has reduced to 4 GMH. Further, the membrane was utilized to concentrate in situ prepared dairy waste. It was observed that after 60 min of the FO process, the concentration of dairy waste had increased to 23%, with a concentration factor of 0.903. Thus, a prepared TFC phase inversion membrane is potential for dairy wastewater treatment.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Department of Chemical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Calicut (NITC), for the necessary facilities. We would like to thank the Department of Chemistry, NITC for FTIR characterization and CIF-IIT Palakkad for FESEM and WAXD characterization.
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Authors acknowledge DST-SERB-EEQ/2018/000351 for financial support.
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Akash M. Chandran and Dr. Prasanna Kumar S Mural created the concept and interpreted the data. Ekta Tayal and Akash M. Chandran conducted the literature survey and carried out the experiments. Graphical design and manuscript preparation by Akash M. Chandran.
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Chandran, A.M., Tayal, E. & Mural, P.K.S. Polycaprolactone-blended cellulose acetate thin-film composite membrane for dairy waste treatment using forward osmosis. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 86418–86426 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-20813-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-20813-x