PROGRAMME

Session 56(V) - Water Treatment

Prof. Julia González-Álvarez

Synthesis of Fe3O4-Ag Nanocomposite and Their Performance as Surface Modifiers for TiO2 Membranes in Treating Oily Wastewater

VR1 Saturday 4 September 16:45 - 17:00

Membrane technology has shown extraordinary performance in treating oily wastewater. Yet, more research is focused towards enhancing the performance of the separation process. In this work, Fe3O4-Ag composite nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized using the co-precipitation technique and applied on the surface of TiO2 ceramic membranes to enhance their performance in terms of oil emulsions separation. The NPs were characterized using the FTIR, XRD, among others. The Fe3O4-Ag NPs were coated on the surface of the ceramic membranes using vacuum coating method by which a uniform layer of the NPs was formed on the surface. Results showed that the contact angle of the pristine ceramic membrane was found to be 75°±2.2°.On the other hand, the modified membrane contact angle was found to be 10.1°±2.2° indicating a super hydrophilic surface. Furthermore, the modified membranes showed water flux of 1065 L·m·h-1 (LMH) which is 2.8 higher than the pristine membrane (380 LMH). Lastly, the surface-coated membranes showed a total oil rejection of 61.8% compared to 56.5% in the pristine membranes. These results showed the potential of using these modified membranes in treating oily wastewater from refineries.