Enhanced hydrophilicity of integral membrane: article

A novel blend membrane from polysulfone (PSf), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and chitosan (CS) was fabricated by phase inversion method. The integral membranes with different compositions of PVA (1 wt% and 2 wt%) were characterized in terms of thermal stability, water uptake, pure water flux, antifouling properties, and mercury removal. Prior to performance testing, the blending of the integral membranes were confirmed via FTIR analysis. Results show that the integral membranes exhibit higher thermal stability, water uptake and pure water flux compared to pure PSf membrane. PSf/CS/PVA 2 wt% has the highest water uptake and pure water flux which are 233% and 57.96 L/m2h respectively. This enhanced hydrophilicity is attributed to the presence of OH groups in PVA. Meanwhile, PSf/CS/PVA 1 wt% exhibited constant and total mercury removal (100%) during a filtration period of 1 hour. In terms of antifouling properties, both membranes undergo irreversible fouling. This may be due to the high concentration of humic acid used during filtration. Hence, further studies are required on the antifouling performance of the membranes.