Removal of lead(II) by nanofiltration-ranged thin film nanocomposite membrane incorporated UiO-66-NH2: comparative removal performance between hydraulic-driven and osmotic-driven membrane process

Abstract

Backgrounds: Contamination of heavy metals has attracted great attention in scientific community in which membrane technology by using thin film composite (TFC) membrane has shown a great potential for treating contaminated water. Methods: This study aimed to develop thin film nanocomposite (TFN) incorporated with different loading of water-stable UiO-66-NH2 and its comparative performance for removing lead (Pb) from water by hydraulic-driven nanofiltration (NF) and osmotic-driven forward osmosis (FO) process. Significant findings: In terms of membrane performance for Pb(II) removal by NF process, increasing Pb(II) initial concentration and the presence of multi-valent ions; cadmium (Cd)/nickel (Ni) decreased Pb(II) rejection for TFN/UiO-66-NH2. Interestingly, under the forward osmosis (FO) process, Pb(II) initial concentration and presence of multi-valent ions (Cd/Ni) did not influence the rejection of Pb(II) in which 99% rejection was achieved for all membranes. TFN/UiO-66-NH2 offered higher FO water flux as compared to the control membrane. In comparison to NF process using the same membrane, the rejection via FO process was 30% more efficient. Results from this study has proven that the incorporation of UiO-66-NH2 improved the properties of TFN membranes making it suitable to be used for water/wastewater treatment and FO can be as another alternative technique for heavy metals removal.