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Intensification and optimization of the characteristics of polyacrylonitrile nanofiltration membranes with improved performance through experimental design and statistical analysis
Author(s) -
Hosseini Seyed Saeid,
Khodakarami Amir Hossein,
Nxumalo Edward Ndumiso
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
polymer engineering and science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.503
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1548-2634
pISSN - 0032-3888
DOI - 10.1002/pen.25417
Subject(s) - polyacrylonitrile , membrane , nanofiltration , materials science , permeation , chemical engineering , chromatography , polymer , chemistry , composite material , engineering , biochemistry
The present study aims to employ experimental design and statistical analysis in order to investigate in detail the effect of various prominent parameters on the characteristics and performance of polyacrylonitrile nanofiltration membranes for the treatment of electroplating wastewaters targeting Ni, Cr, and Zn ions. Incorporation of TiO 2 into the membrane matrix was effective in improving pure water flux (PWF) by ~16%. Also, PWF and Ni rejection of membranes escalated to 118.55 L m −2 h −1 and 90.79%, respectively upon addition of 1.5 wt% citric acid to the dope. Variation in coagulation bath temperature from 25°C to 45°C led to the formation of membranes having higher porosity with enhanced PWF by about 25% at the expense of only 5% reduction in Ni rejection. Parameters were optimized by analysis of variance (ANOVA). In contrast to the effect of feed concentration, an increase in feed pressure and pH enhanced permeate flux and total ion rejection. Similarly, permeate flux increased at higher operational temperatures without change in total rejection. A mathematical model was developed by applying ANOVA and the best combination of operating parameters was obtained by optimization.