Development of flat sheet ultrafiltration membrane for heavy metals removal from automobile industrial wastewater / Taha Ali A. Ben Mussa

This thesis is concerned with the production of new flat sheet ultrafiltration (FSUF) membrane. This process includes formulation, fabrication, and characterization of the developed FSUF. Spiral wound module was used in the membrane system for automobile wastewater treatment. About 6,700 lit/vehicle is the average rate of wastewater generation of the automobile industry. In Malaysia, the current treatment process of the automobile industry is activated sludge process (ASP) which shows poor efficiency for heavy metal, COD and BOD5 removal and also, ASP requires high electricity consumption that increases the treatment cost. The objectives of this study are to create a new formula for FSUF membrane to minimize the concentration of heavy metals, COD and BOD5 to the allowable limits. The research work was divided into five phases which include wastewater sampling, membrane development, membrane characterization, module fabrication and wastewater treatment system fabrication. The first phase deals with the characterization of the automobile effluent such as Iron, Chromium, Zinc, Copper and Lead as well as pH, COD, and BOD5. The initial Proton effluent showed that pH and Zn comply with EQA 2009 standards A and B. In addition, COD, BOD5, Fe, Cr and SS do not comply with EQA 2009 standards A and B. Pb and Cu comply with EQA 2009 standard B but not with standard A.The second phase deals with the development, design and fabrication of flat sheet ultrafiltration membrane, 18 membranes formulas were created in stages I & II using titration and % composition processes. From stages I and II, 4 membrane formulas (M1- M4) and 14 membranes (M5- M18) were obtained respectively. In stage II, polymer (PSF) and additive (PVP) concentration are varied in 14 membranes (M5 - M18) and the concentration of the solvent (DMAc) is constant.