Facile synthesis and characterization of Zno-HNT additive for enhancement of polysulfone membrane for Oil-In-Water separation

Abstract

In this study, a novel nanocomposite of Zinc Oxide-Halloysite Nanotubes (ZnO-HNT) has been synthesized and incorporated into polysulfone membrane for the purpose of oily wastewater separation and purification. ZnO-HNT nanocomposite was synthesized as additives that can improve the hydrophilicity as well as the oleophobicity of the membrane. The nanocomposite was incorporated into PSf membrane in three different loading of ZnO and HNT. The novel nanocomposite has been characterized for its morphological characteristics using SEM, TEM and its physicochemical properties were also analyzed by FTIR and XRD. The performance of the modified polysulfone membrane was studied in terms of hydrophilicity, oil rejection and antifouling properties. The FTIR spectra recorded significant -OH peak at 3200 to 3500 cm-1which contributes to the improve hydrophilicity of the membrane. XRD analysis shown that there are significant peaks at 2? that attributes to both ZnO and HNT in which the nanocomposite exhibited more intense peak at 56.7° denoting increased amount of hydroxide groups. Additionally, the modified PSf membrane with ZnO-HNT additives has shown improved oil contact angle of 165°, water contact angle of 48.6° and 99% total rejection for oily wastewater indicating the improve performance of PSf through incorporation of ZnO-HNT.