Effect of binary zinc-magnesium oxides on polyphenylsulfone/cellulose acetate derivatives hollow fiber membranes for the decontamination of arsenic from drinking water

Arsenic contamination is continuously threatening the safety of drinking water in many parts of the world. The consumption of chronic arsenic contaminated drinking water can cause serious health related issues. Therefore, the synthesis of novel materials is very much essential for the selective removal of arsenic from aqueous solution. In the present investigation, the effect of increased concentrations (0.6, 1.0 and 1.5 wt%) of binary zinc-magnesium oxide (ZnO-MgO) on cellulose acetate (CA)/polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) and cellulose acetate phthalate (CAP)/PPSU hollow fiber membranes for arsenic removal was performed. As used ZnO-MgO was characterized by using x-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and particle size distribution. Fabricated hollow fiber membranes were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), zeta potential, fourier transform infrared (FTIR), x-ray photoelectron spectrophotometer (XPS), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and antifouling studies. The results revealed that, there is significant enhancement in the overall performance of the ZnO-MgO containedmembranes. An enhancement of arsenic removal properties was demonstrated from 0.6 wt% of ZnO-MgO in CAP/PPSU (ZMCAP-0.6) membrane was 81.31% with the retention permeability of 69.58 L/m2h bar respectively. Similarly, 1 wt% of ZnO-MgO in CA/PPSU (ZMCA-1) was found to be 78.48% and 198.47 L/m2h bar respectively using 1 ppm laboratory prepared aqueous arsenic solution (pH 6.8 ± 0.2) at 1 bar transmembrane pressure. In addition, improved antifouling properties was noticed with an increased flux recovery ratio and enhanced thermal stability from ZnO-MgO contained membranes. Therefore, as fabricated ZnO-MgO contained membranes provided enhanced arsenic removal tendency without compromising the retention permeability