• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.87-94
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• 2018

The interactions of water soluble polymers with dye are studied by ultrafiltration using a molecular weight cut off of 10 KDa regenerated cellulose ultrafiltration membrane. Two water-soluble polymers, namely Poly (Sodium-4 Styrenesulfonate) (PSS) and Poly (Vinyl Alcohol) (PVA) were selected for this study. The effects of process parameters, such as, polyelectrolyte concentrations, transmembrane pressure, ionic strength and pH of solution on dye retention and permeation flux were examined. PSS enhanced ultrafiltration achieved dye retention as high as 99% as a result of complexation between polyanion containing aromatic groups and cationic dye. This result was confirmed by the red shift. The retention of dye decreases as the salt concentration increases, a high retention was obtained at pH above 4. However, in case of PVA, relatively low retention (50%) was observed. Ionic strength and pH has no significant effect on the removal of MB. The permeate flux depended slightly on polyelectrolytes concentrations, transmembrane pressure, salt concentration and pH.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.123-128
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• 2018

Common aquaculture practices include the use of certain pharmaceuticals such as antibiotics in avoiding diseases and promoting a healthier growth of the culture. The aim of this study is to monitor and assess the influence of different low oxytetracycline concentrations on the transformation of nitrogen compounds under aeration condition in a lab-scale recirculating aquaculture system (RAS). Over $1mg\;L^{-1}$ dose of oxytetracycline to aquaculture had induced ammonia($NH_4-N$), nitrate($NO_3-N$), soluble COD accumulation in RAS. In addition, nitrous oxide ($N_2O$) emission from RAS was significantly reduced during the oxytetracycline dose periods. After ceasing the dose of oxytetracycline, ammonia oxidation and nitrous oxide re-emission were observed. This observation indicated that low concentrations of oxytetracycline could affect the nitrogen species in RAS. Also, the emission mechanisms of $N_2O$ may not be only dependent on nitrification process but also dependent on denitrification process in our RAS system.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.105-113
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• 2018

Maillard reaction products like melanoidins present in industrial fermentation wastewaters are complex compounds with various functional properties. In this work, novel ultrafiltration (UF) mixed matrix membrane (MMM) composed of polysulfone (PSF) and nanocomposites was prepared through a phase inversion process for the recovery of melanoidins. Nanocomposites were prepared with acid functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as the reinforcing filler for chitosan-thermoplastic starch blend. Higher nanocomposites content in the PSF matrix reduced the membrane permeability and melanoidins retention indicating tighter membrane with surface defects. The membrane surface defects could be sealed with dilute polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) solution. The best performing membrane (1% nanocomposites in 18% PSF membrane sealed with 0.25% PVA coating) resulted in uniform melanoidins retention of 98% and permeability of 3.6 L/m2 h bar over a period of 8h. This demonstrates a low fouling PSF membrane for high melanoidins recovery.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.79-85
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• 2018

In this work, batch adsorption of anionic dye acid green-25 (AG-25) from aqueous solution has been carried out at room temperature using anion exchange membrane (DF-120B) as a noval adsorbent. The effect of various experimental parameters such as contact time, membrane dosage, ionic strength and temperature on the adsorption of dye were investigated. Kinetic models namely pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, Elovich, liquid film diffusion, Bangham and modified freundlich models were employed to evaluate the experimental data. Parameters like adsorption capacities, rate constant and related correlation coefficients for every model are calculated and discussed. It showed that adsorption of AG-25 onto DF-120B followed pseudo-first-order rate expression. Thermodynamic study indicates that adsorption of AG-25 onto DF-120B is an exothermic and spontaneous process.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.451-460
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• 2019

Thin film composite membranes incorporated with nano-sized hydrophilic zeolite -A were successfully prepared via interfacial polymerization (IP) on porous blend PES/PAN support for water desalination. The thin film nanocomposite membranes were characterized by SEM, contact angle and performance test with 7000 ppm NaCl solution at 7bar. The results showed that the optimum zeolite loading amount was determined to be 0.1wt% with permeate flux 29LMH.NaCl rejection was improved from 69% to 92% compared to the pristine polyamide membrane where the modified PA surface was more selective than that of the pristine PA. In addition, there was no significant change in the permeate flux of the thin film nanocomposite membrane compared with that of the pristine PA in spite of the formation of the dense polyamide layer. The stability of the polyamide layer was investigated for 15 days and the optimized membrane presented the highest durability and stability.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.461-469
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• 2019

In the present work, we present a new effective hydrophilicity modifier for polysulfone (PSf) membrane. Firstly, amphiphilic nanocellulose (ANC) with different substitution degrees (SD) was synthesized by esterification reaction with nanocellulose (NC) and dodecyl succinic anhydride (DDSA). The SD and morphology of ANC were characterized by titration method and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Then, the polysulfone (PSf)/ANC blend membranes were prepared via an immersion phase inversion method. The influence of SD on the morphology, structure and performances of PSf/ANC blend membrane were carefully investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), mechanical property test, contact angle measuring instrument and filtration experiment. The results showed that the mechanical property, hydrophilicity and anti-fouling property of all the PSf/ANC blend membranes were higher than those of pure PSf membrane and PSf/NC membrane, and the membrane properties were increased with the increasing of SD values. As ANC-4 has the highest SD value, PSf/ANC-4 membrane exhibited the optimal membrane properties. In conclusion, the prepared ANC can be used as an additive to improve the hydrophilicity and anti-fouling properties of polysulfone (PSf) membrane.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.395-404
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• 2019

The influence of chlorine on marine bacterial communities was examined in this study. A non-chlorine-adapted marine bacterial community (NCAM) and a chlorine-adapted bacterial community (CAM, bacterial community treated with $0.2mg-Cl_2/L$ chlorine) were cultivated for 1 month. A distinct difference was observed between the NCAM and CAM, which shared only eight operational taxonomic units (OTUs), corresponding to 13.1% of the total number of identified OTUs. This result suggested that chlorine was responsible for the changes in the marine bacterial communities. Kordiimonas aquimaris was found to be a chlorine-resistant marine bacterium. The effect of intermittent chlorination on the two marine biofilm communities formed on the reverse osmosis (RO) membrane surface was investigated using various chlorine concentrations (0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8 mg $Cl_2/L$). Although the average number of adherent marine bacteria on the RO membrane over a period of 7 weeks decreased with increasing chlorine concentration, disinfection efficiencies showed substantial fluctuations throughout the experiment. This is due to chlorine depletion that occurs during intermittent chlorination. These results suggest that intermittent chlorination is not an effective disinfection strategy to control biofilm formation.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.231-251
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• 2010

The sulfatation of chitosan, by reaction with chlorosulfonic acid under controlled conditions, allowed increasing the pH range of chitosan solubility. The biopolymer was characterized using FTIR and $^{13}C$-NMR spectroscopy, elemental analysis and titration analysis and it was tested for mercury recovery by polymer enhanced ultrafiltration (PEUF). In slightly alkaline conditions (i.e., pH 8) mercury recovery was possible and at saturation of the polymer the molar ratio $-NH_2$/Hg(II) tended to 2.6. Polymer recycling was possible changing the pH to 2 and the polymer was reused for 3 cycles maintaining high metal recovery. The presence of chloride ions influences metal speciation and affinity for the polymer and "playing" with metal speciation allowed using the PEUF process for mercury separation from cadmium; at pH 11 the formation of hydroxo-complexes of Hg(II) limits it retention. Cake formation reveals the predominant controlling step for permeation flux.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.339-349
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• 2015

Experiments were carried out using granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption techniques to treat wastewater contaminated with organic compounds caused by diverse human activities. Two techniques were assessed: adsorbent GAC prepared from coconut shell (GACC) and adsorbent GAC from palm shell (GACP). A comparison of these two techniques was undertaken to identify ways to improve the efficiency of the treatment process. Analysis of the processed wastewater showed that with GACC the removal efficiency of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), turbidity, total suspended solids (TSS) and total dissolved solids (TDS) was 65, 60, 82, 82 and 8.7%, respectively, while in the case of GACP, the removal efficiency was 55, 60, 81, 91 and 22%, respectively. It can therefore be concluded that GACC is more effective than GACP for BOD removal, while GACP is better than GACC for TSS and TDS removal. It was also found that for COD and turbidity almost the same results were achieved by the two techniques. In addition, it was observed that both GACC and GACP reduced pH value to 7.9 after 24 hrs. Moreover, the optimal time period for removal of BOD and TDS was 1 hr and 3 hrs, respectively, for both techniques.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.309-321
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• 2015

We report in this study the synthesis of mixed matrix reverse osmosis membranes by interfacial polymerization (IP) of thin film nanocomposite (TFNC) on porous polysulfone supports (PS). This paper investigates the synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) using the sol-gel processing technique and evaluates the performance of mixed matrix membranes reached by these aerogel NPs. Aqueous m-phenyl diamine (MPD) and organic trimesoyl chloride (TMC)-NPs mixture solutions were used in the IP process. The reaction of MPD and TMC at the interface of PS substrates resulted in the formation of the thin film composite (TFC). NPs of ZnO with a size of about 25 nm were used for the fabrication of the TFNC membranes. These membranes were characterized and evaluated in comparison with neat TFC ones. Their performances were evaluated based on the water permeability and salt rejection. Experimental results indicated that the NPs improved membrane performance under optimal concentration of NPs. By changing the content of the filler, better hydrophilicity was obtained; the contact angle was decreased from $74^{\circ}$ to $32^{\circ}$. Also, the permeate water flux was increased from 26 to 49 L/m2.h when the content of NPs is 0.1 (wt.%) with the maintaining of lower salt passage of 1%.