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Influence of TiO2 nanoparticles loading on permeability and antifouling properties of nanocomposite polymeric membranes: experimental and statistical analysis

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Abstract

Influence of the dope solution concentration on final membrane properties, regarding TiO2 role, was investigated. For this purpose, blended flat sheet poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF)-based membranes with different proportions of poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP)/TiO2 ratios were prepared via phase inversion process. The final application of the membranes was evaluated, especially in contact with vital microbial mixed liquor, in membrane bioreactors due to antibacterial properties of TiO2 and environmentally concern of nanoparticles application. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used as a precise and multivariate technique to estimate and navigate the system performance at any experimental point within the investigation domain. Filtration properties, flux recovery ratio and (Protein flux / pure water flux: Jp/Jw) ratio of the membranes were investigated statistically to propose the formulations for the optimal performance. The correlation showed good agreement with the measured pure water flux and flux recovery ratio values of the fabricated membranes, with R2 values higher than 90%. The findings are significant since demonstrating that the loaded nano TiO2 particles around 0.5 wt% improve pure water flux, however, based on the Pareto analysis, experimental values and environmental safety concern, nanoparticles loading can be neglected in comparison with the other factors investigated in this study.

The research sequences: Step 1: preliminary tests and Experimental Design, Step 2: answers analysis, Step 3: membrane design using main factors

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. Samaneh Khanlari for her valuable comments and corrections and Mrs. Parastoo Zeinolabedini for her technical support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Centre for Membrane Separation processes, Faculty of Chemical, Petroleum and Gas Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran

    Mohammad Enayatzadeh & Toraj Mohammadi

  2. Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

    Narges Fallah

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  1. Mohammad Enayatzadeh
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  2. Toraj Mohammadi
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Correspondence to Toraj Mohammadi.

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Appendices

Appendix 1

Fig. 7
figure 7

Research procedure

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Appendix 2

Fig. 8
figure 8

Experimental Set up for filtration measurements

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Appendix 3

Surface and cross section micrograph of membranes

Fig. 9
figure 9

Surface micrograph of membranes (SEM Magnification: 25kx)

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Fig. 10
figure 10

Cross section micrograph of membranes. a (STD001-STD003: SEM Magnification: 2000x, STD004: SEM magnification: 500x), b (STD005-STD007-STD010: SEM Magnification: 2000x, STD006-STD008-STD009: SEM magnification: 500x, c (STD011: SEM Magnification: 2000x, STD012-STD013: SEM magnification: 500x)

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Enayatzadeh, M., Mohammadi, T. & Fallah, N. Influence of TiO2 nanoparticles loading on permeability and antifouling properties of nanocomposite polymeric membranes: experimental and statistical analysis. J Polym Res 26, 240 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10965-019-1892-4

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