Halloysite Nanotube-Ferrihydrite Incorporated Polyethersulfone Mixed Matrix Membrane: Effect of Nanocomposite Loading on the Antifouling Performance

Membrane filtration is an attractive process in water and wastewater treatment, but largely restricted by membrane fouling. In this study, the membrane fouling issue is addressed by developing polyethersulfone (PES)-based mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) with the incorporation of hydrophilic nanoparticles as an additive. Ultrafiltration MMMs were successfully fabricated by incorporating different loadings of halloysite nanotube-ferrihydrates (HNT-HFO) into a polyethersulfone (PES) matrix and their performance was evaluated for the separation of bovine serum albumin (BSA) solution and oil/water emulsion. The results show that wettability is endowed to the membrane by introducing the additive aided by the presence of abundant -OH groups from the HFO. The loading of additive also leads to more heterogeneous surface morphology and higher pure water fluxes (516.33-640.82 L/m2h) more than twice that of the pristine membrane as reference (34.69 L/m2h) without affecting the rejection. The MMMs also provide much enhanced antifouling properties. The filtration results indicate that the flux recovery ratio of the modified membrane reached 100% by washing with only distilled water and a total flux recovery ratio of >98% ± 0.0471 for HNT-HFO-loaded membranes in comparison with 59% ± 0.0169 for pristine PES membrane.