Engineering of Multifunctional Nanocomposite Membranes for Wastewater Treatment: Oil/Water Separation and Dye Degradation

Hamouda M Mousa; Mostafa M Sayed; Ibrahim M A Mohamed; M S Abd El-Sadek; Emad Abouel Nasr; Mohamed A Mohamed; Mohamed Taha

doi:10.3390/membranes13100810

Engineering of Multifunctional Nanocomposite Membranes for Wastewater Treatment: Oil/Water Separation and Dye Degradation

Membranes (Basel). 2023 Sep 25;13(10):810. doi: 10.3390/membranes13100810.

Authors

Hamouda M Mousa^{1

2}, Mostafa M Sayed³, Ibrahim M A Mohamed⁴, M S Abd El-Sadek^{5

6}, Emad Abouel Nasr⁷, Mohamed A Mohamed⁸, Mohamed Taha⁹

Affiliations

¹ Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, South Valley University, Qena 83523, Egypt.
² Faculty of Technological Industry and Energy, Thebes Technological University, Thebes, Luxor 85863, Egypt.
³ Department of Mechanical Design and Materials, Faculty of Energy Engineering, Aswan University, Aswan 81542, Egypt.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Sohag University, Sohag 82524, Egypt.
⁵ Nanomaterials Lab., Physics Department, Faculty of Science, South Valley University, Qena 83523, Egypt.
⁶ Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Galala University, Galala, Suez 43511, Egypt.
⁷ Department of Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, King Saud University, P.O. Box 800, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ School of Engineering, University of South Wales, Pontypridd CF37 1DL, UK.
⁹ Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering and Technology, Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport, Sadat Road, Aswan 81511, Egypt.

Abstract

Multifunctional membrane technology has gained tremendous attention in wastewater treatment, including oil/water separation and photocatalytic activity. In the present study, a multifunctional composite nanofiber membrane is capable of removing dyes and separating oil from wastewater, as well as having antibacterial activity. The composite nanofiber membrane is composed of cellulose acetate (CA) filled with zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) in a polymer matrix and dipped into a solution of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO₂ NPs). Membrane characterization was performed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and water contact angle (WCA) studies were utilized to evaluate the introduced membranes. Results showed that membranes have adequate wettability for the separation process and antibacterial activity, which is beneficial for water disinfection from living organisms. A remarkable result of the membranes' analysis was that methylene blue (MB) dye removal occurred through the photocatalysis process with an efficiency of ~20%. Additionally, it exhibits a high separation efficiency of 45% for removing oil from a mixture of oil-water and water flux of 20.7 L.m^-2 h^-1 after 1 h. The developed membranes have multifunctional properties and are expected to provide numerous merits for treating complex wastewater.

Keywords: antibacterial activity; nanocomposite membrane; oil/water separation; photocatalytic.

Grants and funding

RSP2023R164/King Saud University