Porous cellulose acetate membranes prepared by water pressure-assisted process for water-treatment

Abstract

We fabricated membranes by adding the inorganic additive, Ni(NO3)(2)center dot 6H(2)O, to cellulose acetate (CA) polymer. When subjected to water pressure, the polymer chain was weakened by the plasticizing effect of Ni(NO3)(2)center dot 6H(2)O contained in the CA. The water pressure was varied by applying a range of distilled water pressure from 0 to 10 bar and well-formed pores were confirmed by SEM images. When water-pressure was applied for pore-generation, the flux of distilled water was about 50 LMH at a maximum pressure of 8 bar. In addition, the water treatment performance in terms of separation of a 200 ppm sodium alginate solution was 75% or more for all the membranes prepared, from 3 to 10 bar; the maximum salt rejection was 89% at 7 bar. The physical and chemical properties of the membranes were investigated using TGA and FT-IR. The porosity of the membrane was also confirmed using a porosimeter. (C) 2019 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.