Fabrication of silver modified titanium dioxide coated ceramic membrane for bisphenol a removal via photocatalytic membrane

Abstract

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) base polymeric membrane not only excites under UV light which can cause polymer aging in the long-term operation and limits their impact but also chemical and thermal photostability of polymeric membrane become reduce, which decrease its applications for membrane treatment. The ceramic membrane has proven to overcome these limitations because it is chemical and thermally stable and has the ability to withstand high temperature. However, the high cost of ceramic membranes limits its wide utilization. In this study, abundantly available kaolin was selected as a ceramic material because of its superior mechanical strength and very cheap price. The photocatalytic Ag/TiO2 coated hollow fiber ceramic membrane was fabricated by phase inversion and sintering method followed by simple deposition technique for the removal of bisphenol A (BPA). To study the morphologies of Ag-doped TiO2 nanoparticles and coated ceramic membrane, the silver loading (0.4 to 1.0g) and coating time was varied from 30 to 120 s respectively. The coating and without coating ceramic membranes were characterized in terms of morphology, crystalline structure, and pure water flux and results showed an asymmetric coated ceramic hollow fiber membrane consist of Ag/TiO2 nanoparticles on the surface of the membranes was produced. The photocatalytic membrane was further evaluated for the photocatalytic efficiency in degradation of BPA, which is present in water. The experimental results of photocatalytic activity test showed that the (0.8g) Ag/TiO2 photocatalyst and the membrane (120s) had a good removal efficiency. The resulted coated membrane (0.8g Ag/TiO2, 120s) exhibited the highest BPA removal rate of 88% in 180 min under visible light.