Enhancing the performance of Polysulfone nanofiltration membrane by inclusion of salicylic acid as a hydrophilic modifier in the support layer. | ||
| Frontiers in Scientific Research and Technology | ||
| Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 12 November 2025 PDF (1.21 M) | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/fsrt.2025.418121.1177 | ||
| Authors | ||
| Samy Mazhar Youssef* 1; Abdel-hameed Mostafa El-Aassar2; zeinab Mohamed anwar3; Manar Sobaih Bayoumi3; Mohamed El-Sayed Abdel-fattah4 | ||
| 1Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt | ||
| 2Egypt Desalination Research Center of Excellence (EDRC), Hydro-geochemistry Department, Desert Research Center (DRC), Matariya, Cairo, Egypt | ||
| 3Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt | ||
| 4Egypt Desalination Research Center of Excellence (EDRC), Hydro-geochemistry Department, Desert Research Center (DRC), Matariya, Cairo, Egypt | ||
| Abstract | ||
| Many researchers have shown that improving the hydrophilicity of the membrane will reduce the membrane fouling and enhance the permeation flux. Accordingly, this paper examines the effect of incorporating Salicylic acid (SA) in Polysulfone (PSF) substrate layers of thin film composite (TFC) nanofiltration (NF) membranes onto the morphology, hydrophilicity, permeation, and salt retention properties. For this purpose, SA was blended at different weight ratios into the PSF/PVP casting solution to improve the hydrophilic and permeation properties. TFC membranes were fabricated by coating the PSF substrates with Polyamide (PA) thin films. The effects of PSF, PVP and SA dosages in the casting solutions on the membrane flux and rejection were studied. Samples of the fabricated membranes were characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Water contact angle measurement, Brunauer Emmet Teller (BET) and Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA). The results exhibited an improvement in the hydrophilicity and mechanical properties with an increase in the surface area of the acid-modified membranes. The fabricated membranes were applied to remove salts from water. Permeate flux and Na2SO4 rejection of the pure PSF membrane were 15 L/m2h and 77.7%, whereas for PSF/SA were 29.6 L/m2h and 92.2 % at 5 bar pressure. As a conclusion, the addition of SA gives rise to membranes with higher permeate flux and salt rejection than the pure membrane. Also, the substrate layer fabricated from 16% PSF and 0.35% PVP with 0.35 % SAc gives the best possible performance for the obtained membrane. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| PVP; SA; NF; hydrophilicity; TFC | ||
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