Effect of thickness of porous polysulfone membranes on removal of ferum ions / Norin Zamiah Kassim Shaari, Nabilla Mohamed Zaimy and Nurul Aida Sulaiman

Membrane separation has been widely used in the removal of heavy metal from wastewater.
Chemical precipitation, ion exchange, and adsorption are the examples of conventional treatment
that have significance disadvantages which are incomplete removal and high energy consumption,
thus lead to disposal of toxic sludge. In this research, the wastewater from electroplating industry
containing high concentration of ferum ion was treated by using an integrated complexation method
through a thin film composite membrane. The composite comprises of polysulfone as support layer
with either polymer blend of PVA/chitosan and hybrid membrane respectively as the top layer.
Treatment process was conducted at pH 7, room temperature, and pressure of 12 bar. The thickness
of polysulfone was varied at 60 μm and 90 μm. Results showed that the treated wastewater contained
ferum concentration below than the acceptable range and the composite membrane with hybrid
membrane as thin layer with polysulfone at 90 μm thickness yield the best performance.