Fabrication of dual layer hollow fibre membranes for photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants

Abstract

In recent years, the membrane photocatalytic reactor (MPR) systems have attracted much attention due to their promising function in treating organic pollutant and filtering clean water. Suspended photocatalyst titanium dioxide (TiO2) particle always become a problematic in hybrid MPR system due to membrane fouling and TiO2 loss. In the past few years, considerable attention has been paid to immobilize TiO2 nanoparticles on various materials. Since ultraviolet (UV) source and TiO2 are required for the photocatalytic reaction, thus, it is crucial to immobilize high concentration of TiO2 on the outer surface of the polymeric membrane support. By using co-extrusion approach, a dual layer hollow fibre (DLHF) membrane was fabricated. The effect of additives on the dope polymer solutions and membrane morphologies of DLHF were investigated using of scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The SEM results showed that DLHF membranes have a good adhesion between layers with no delamination.