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. 2018 Jul 11;8(3):42.
doi: 10.3390/membranes8030042.

Performance of PES/LSMM-OGCN Photocatalytic Membrane for Phenol Removal: Effect of OGCN Loading

Noor Elyzawerni Salim  1   2 , Nor A M Nor  3   4 , Juhana Jaafar  5   6 , Ahmad F Ismail  7   8 , Takeshi Matsuura  9 , Mohammed R Qtaishat  10 , Mohd H D Othman  11   12 , Mukhlis A Rahman  13   14 , Farhana Aziz  15   16 , Norhaniza Yusof  17   18
Affiliations

Performance of PES/LSMM-OGCN Photocatalytic Membrane for Phenol Removal: Effect of OGCN Loading

Noor Elyzawerni Salim et al. Membranes (Basel). .

Abstract

In designing a photocatalytic oxidation system, the immobilized photocatalyst technique becomes highly profitable due to its promising capability in treating organic pollutants such as phenols in wastewater. In this study, hydrophiLic surface modifying macromolecules (LSMM) modified polyethersulfone (PES) hybrid photocatalytic membranes incorporated with oxygenated graphitic carbon nitride (OGCN) was successfully developed using phase inversion technique. The effectiveness of the hybrid photocatalytic membrane was determined under different loading of OGCN photocatalyst (0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 wt%). The best amount of OGCN in the casting solution was 1.0 wt% as the agglomeration did not occur considering the stability of the membrane performance and morphology. The highest flux of 264 L/m²·h was achieved by PES/LSMM-OGCN1.5wt% membrane. However, the highest flux performance was not an advantage in this situation as the flux reduced the rejection value due to open pores. The membrane with the highest photocatalytic performance was obtained at 1.0 wt% of OGCN loading with 35.78% phenol degradation after 6 h. Regardless of the lower rejection value, the performance shown by the PES/LSMM-OGCN1.0wt% membrane was still competent because of the small difference of less than 1% to that of the PES/LSMM-OGCN0wt% membrane. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that the optimisation of the OGCN loading in the PES hybrid photocatalytic membrane indeed plays an important role towards enhancing the catalyst distribution, phenol degradation, and acceptable rejection above all considerations.

Keywords: hybrid membrane; hydrophilic surface modifying macromolecules; oxygen-doped graphitic carbon nitride; phenol; photocatalytic.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Synthesis procedure of the oxygen doped GCN (graphitic carbon nitride).
Figure 2
Figure 2
FTIR spectrum of OGCN (oxygenated graphitic carbon nitride) obtained in this study.
Figure 3
Figure 3
FTIR spectra for (a) OGCN catalyst particle; (b) LSMM (hydrophilic surface modifying macromolecules) additive; (c) PES18wt% membrane; and (d) PES/LSMM-OGCN membrane.
Figure 4
Figure 4
SEM images of cross section of PES/LSMM/OGCN membranes at 1000× magnification: (a) PES18wt%; (b) PES/LSMM-OGCN0wt%; (c) PES/LSMM-OGCN0.5wt%; (d) PES/LSMM-OGCN1.0wt%; (e) PES/LSMM-OGCN1.5wt%; (f) PES/LSMM-OGCN2.0wt%; and (g) PES/LSMM-OGCN2.5wt%.
Figure 5
Figure 5
SEM images of top surface of PES/LSMM-OGCN membranes at 2500× magnification: (a) PES18wt%; (b) PES/LSMM-OGCN0wt%; (c) PES/LSMM-OGCN0.5wt%; (d) PES/LSMM-OGCN1.0wt%; (e) PES/LSMM-OGCN1.5wt%; (f) PES/LSMM-OGCN2.0wt%; and (g) PES/LSMM-OGCN2.5wt%.
Figure 6
Figure 6
AFM (atomic force microscope) images of PES/LSMM-OGCN membranes: (a) PES18wt%; (b) PES/LSMM-OGCN0wt%; (c) PES/LSMM-OGCN0.5wt%; (d) PES/LSMM-OGCN1.0wt%; (e) PES/LSMM-OGCN1.5wt%; (f) PES/LSMM-OGCN2.0wt%; and (g) PES/LSMM-OGCN2.5wt%.
Figure 7
Figure 7
PES/LSMM-OGCN membrane contact angle.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Phenol adsorption test using PES/LSMM-OGCN membranes.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Phenol reduction via photocatalytic oxidation versus irradiation time for PES/LSMM-OGCN membrane.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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