Study of hydrophilic electrospun nanofiber membranes for filtration of micro and nanosize suspended particles

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Authors
Asmatulu, Ramazan
Muppalla, Harish
Veisi, Zeinab
Khan, Waseem Sabir
Asaduzzaman, Abu
Nuraje, Nurxat
Advisors
Issue Date
2013-11-14
Type
Article
Keywords
Electrospun nanofiber , Water filtration , Hydrophilic membranes , Micro and nanosize particles , Filtration
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Citation
Asmatulu, R., Muppalla, H., Veisi, Z., Khan, W. S., Asaduzzaman, A., & Nuraje, N. (2013). Study of hydrophilic electrospun nanofiber membranes for filtration of micro and nanosize suspended particles. Membranes, 3(4), 375-388. doi:10.3390/membranes3040375
Abstract

Polymeric nanofiber membranes of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) blended with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) were fabricated using an electrospinning process at different conditions and used for the filtration of three different liquid suspensions to determine the efficiency of the filter membranes. The three liquid suspensions included lake water, abrasive particles from a water jet cutter, and suspended magnetite nanoparticles. The major goal of this research work was to create highly hydrophilic nanofiber membranes and utilize them to filter the suspended liquids at an optimal level of purification (i.e., drinkable level). In order to overcome the fouling/biofouling/blocking problems of the membrane, a coagulation process, which enhances the membrane's efficiency for removing colloidal particles, was used as a pre-treatment process. Two chemical agents, Tanfloc (organic) and Alum (inorganic), were chosen for the flocculation/coagulation process. The removal efficiency of the suspended particles in the liquids was measured in terms of turbidity, pH, and total dissolved solids (TDS). It was observed that the coagulation/filtration experiments were more efficient at removing turbidity, compared to the direct filtration process performed without any coagulation and filter media.

Table of Contents
Description
All content is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).
Publisher
MDPI
Journal
Book Title
Series
Membranes
v.3 no.4
PubMed ID
DOI
ISSN
2077-0375
2077-0375 (online)
EISSN
Collections