This work studies developing ultrafiltration (UF) membranes using organic and inorganic additives to remove organic dyes at UF conditions with high effectiveness. Flat sheet (18 wt%) polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes were prepared via phase inversion and then developed by adding 6 wt% polyethylene glycol (PEG) as a pore former. Furthermore, the PVDF/PEG membranes were developed by embedding tin oxide nanoparticles (SnO2 NPs) with different contents of 0.3, 0.6, and 0.9 wt%. The prepared membranes were examined for their performance in the dye removal before being characterized using the field emission scanning electron microscope, atomic force microscopy, contact angle, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, surface charge, porosity, mean pore size, tensile strength, and elongation at break. The performance was tested regarding pure water flux (PWF), permeate flux, and dye removal (R%). The effect of dye concentration and pH of the feed solution on the permeate flux and R% was also investigated. In addition, the antifouling features in terms of flux recovery ratio, reversible fouling, irreversible fouling, total fouling, and the R% were studied using the PVDF/PEG membrane and the membrane containing 0.3 wt% of SnO2 NPs. The contact angle decreased from 78.85° to 51.88°, and the PWF rose from 7.16 to 135.71 L/m2.h for PVDF and PVDF/PEG-SnO2 (0.3 wt%) membranes, respectively. The R% of rhodamine B (RhB) slightly decreased from 93.08 to 91.26, and 87.71% for PVDF, PVDF/PEG, and PVDF/PEG-SnO2 (0.3 wt%) membranes, respectively. Then, it increased with increasing NPs concentration up to 90.17 and 92.23% for PVDF/PEG-SnO2 (0.6 wt%) and PVDF/PEG-SnO2 (0.9 wt%) membranes, respectively. Also, the molecular weight cutoff was calculated using RhB as a cationic dye, acid orange 10, and congo red as an anionic dye and it was 520 Da.
Alloys were performed from In2O3 doped SnO2 with different doping ratio by quenching from the melt technique. Pulsed Laser Deposition PLD was used to deposit thin films of different doping ratio In2O3 : SnO2 ( 0, 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 % wt.) on glass substrate at ambient temperature under vacuum of 10 -3 bar thickness of ~100nm. The structural type ,grain size and morphology of the prepared alloys compounds and thin films were examined using X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy . The results showed that all alloys have polycrystalline structures and the peaks belonged to the preferred plane for crystal growth were identical with the ITO (Indium – Tin –Oxide) standard cards also another peaks were ob
... Show More<p>The polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/polysulfone (PSF) blended polymer membranes were modified by decaethylene glycol monododecyl ether (C<sub>12</sub>EO<sub>10</sub>) as a non-ionic surfactant. Polymeric solutions containing 17 wt.% of both PAN and PSF with a ratio of 80/20, and C<sub>12</sub>EO<sub>10</sub> with a mass concentration of 6 wt.% and aluminium oxide (Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>) nanoparticles with varying concentrations (1, 2, and 3 wt.%) were prepared. Adding 6 wt.% of C<sub>12</sub>EO<sub>10</sub> to the casting solution formed a membrane with distinguished hydrophilicity and fouling resistance, higher porosity, appreciable pe
... Show MoreThe sensitivity of SnO2 nanoparticles/reduced graphene oxide hybrid to NO2 gas is discussed in the present work using density functional theory (DFT). The SnO2 nanoparticles shapes are taken as pyramids, as proved by experiments. The reduced graphene oxide (rGO) edges have oxygen or oxygen-containing functional groups. However, the upper and lower surfaces of rGO are clean, as expected from the oxide reduction procedure. Results show that SnO2 particles are connected at the edges of rGO, making a p-n heterojunction with a reduced agglomeration of SnO2 particles and high gas sensitivity. The DFT results are in
Membrane technology has emerged as a dynamic field of study in academia and industry for treating produced oily wastewater. ZrO2 nanoparticles (ZrO2 NPs) filler-based mixed matrix polyethersulfone/cellulose acetate microfiltration membranes were fabricated and inspected in the oily wastewater remediation. The fabricated bare PES membrane, PES/CA blended polymers membrane, and PES/CA blended polymers incorporating ZrO2 NPs (ZrO2@PES/CA) membranes by phase inversion technique were inspected by field emission scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and measurement of water contact angle and porosity. The ZrO2@PES/CA membrane which consisted of 0.5 wt.% ZrO2 NPs (0.5%ZrPC) afforded
... Show MoreIntrinsic viscosities have been studied for polyethylene oxide in water which has wide industrial applications. The polyethylene oxide samples had two different structures, the first one was linear and covers a wide range of molecular weight of 1, 3, 10, 20, 35, 99, 370, 1100, 4600, and 8000 kg/mol and the second one was branched and had molecular weights of 0.55 and 40 kg/mol.
Intrinsic viscosities and Huggins constants have been determined for all types and molecular weights mentioned above at 25ºC using a capillary viscometer. The values of Mark-Houwink parameters (K and a) were equal to 0.0068 ml/g and 0.67 respectively, and have not been published for this range of molecular weight in as yet.
The pervaporation using a commercial hydrophilic ceramic membrane supplied from PERVATECH was conducted. The dehydration of ethanol/ water system was used as a model for the pervaporation study. Pervaporation experiments of ethanol/water system were carried out in the temperature range of 303-343K, ethanol concentration in the feed 10-90 vol. % and the feed flow rate in the range of 0.5-10 L/min. In this work, the effect of operation parameters on permeates fluxes as well as permeates separation factors have been studied. The Water flux is strongly dependent on the temperature; it increased with increasing in temperature, which in turn decreased the selectivity of membrane to water molecules.
In addition water flux was decr
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