Membrane bioreactor (MBR) is an effective and increasingly popular technique to treat wastewater. In short, MBR can remove some organic matters and ammonia, and produce higher purity of treated water. However, the retaining microorganism in MBR can cause serious membrane fouling problems, significantly reduce the membrane permeability and increase the cost of membrane cleaning and replacement. Polymeric materials, such as polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), polyethersulfone (PES) and polypropylene (PP) are typically used to fabricate MBR membranes. Although these membranes can be porous and mechanically strong, they are very hydrophobic making them very susceptible to fouling. In this study, we demonstrated that by the coating of hydrophilic nanocellulose on a suitable microfiltration (MF) membrane substrate (e.g. PAN), the antifouling properties could be greatly improved. The fouling properties were tested using bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a model protein, where the permeate flux and rejection rate were systematically investigated at 10 psi pressure. The surface charge, in the form of zeta potential, of the nanocellulose coating layer, was controlled by changing the 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinyl-1-oxyl (TEMPO)-mediated oxidation conditions, using jute as the base material.

Effect of the surface zeta potential on the fouling reduction of nanocellulose coated ultrafiltration membranes

255th National Meeting (2018)

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