FABRICATION OF HYDROPHILIC AND STRONG PET-BASED MEMBRANE FROM WASTED PLASTIC BOTTLE

In this study, the wasted plastic bottle has been recycled as a polymeric material to fabricate PET-based membrane by adding cellulose acetate and silica to enhance the performance. Cellulose acetate was added as a sub-polymer to increase mechanical property of the PET membrane. Meanwhile, silica which derived from rice husk was used as a membrane pore-forming agent. PET/CA/SiO2 membrane was fabricated using the phase inversion technique via thermal induced phase separation method. The permeation and selectivity performances of the prepared membrane were tested. Other fundamental characterizations of the membrane such as morphological, functional groups, tensile strength, contact angle, roughness, and thickness were also analyzed. From the result, it was found that the addition of silica successfully improved the hydrophilicity as well as the filtration performance of the membrane.