Applied Chemical Engineering

Morphology and Characteristics of Polyethersulfone Membrane Modified with Polyethylene glycol Hexadecyl Ether and Nanocarbon

Rinal Dia’ul Haikal

Department of Chemical Engineering, Universitas Syiah Kuala

Alwan Ziyad Marom

Department of Chemical Engineering, Universitas Syiah Kuala

Muhammad Prayogie Aulia

Department of Chemical Engineering, Universitas Syiah Kuala

Aulia Chintia Ambarita

Department of Chemical Engineering, Universitas Syiah Kuala

Azwar Azwar

Department of Chemical Engineering, Universitas Syiah Kuala

Afrilia Fahrina

Research Center for Marine and Land Bioindustry, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN)

Muhammad Roil Bilad

Faculty of Integrated Technologies, Universiti Brunei Darussalam

Sri Mulyati

Department of Chemical Engineering, Universitas Syiah Kuala; Graduate School of Environmental Management, Universitas Syiah Kuala; Research Center for Environmental and Natural Resources, Universitas Syiah Kuala

Mehmet Emin Pasaoglu

National Research Center on Membrane Technologies, Istanbul Technical University

Ismail Koyuncu

National Research Center on Membrane Technologies, Istanbul Technical University

Nasrul Arahman

Department of Chemical Engineering, Universitas Syiah Kuala; Graduate School of Environmental Management, Universitas Syiah Kuala; Research Center for Environmental and Natural Resources, Universitas Syiah Kuala; Atsiri Research Center, PUI, Universitas Syiah Kuala

Keywords: Membrane, Nano Carbon, Polyether sulfone, Polyethylene Glycol Hexadecyl Ether

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Abstract

Membrane filtration is one of the separation techniques based on the filtration media's morphological structure and pore size. This study aims to investigate the effect of organic and inorganic additives on the morphology and performance of polyethersulfone (PES) membranes. Two additives used are polyethylene glycol hexadecyl ether (PEG-HE) and Nanocarbon. PES membrane synthesis was carried out using a phase inversion technique. The membrane performance test includes analysis of pure permeability and rejection of synthetic fertilizer factory wastewater (Mg²⁺) with a concentration of 300 ppm. The membrane characterization was carried out by analyzing the morphology of the membrane structure using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), water contact angle (WCA), porosity, and membrane pore size. Ultrafiltration experiment showed that the modified PES membrane with PEG-HE and Nanocarbon had the highest permeability. The most significant rejection coefficient of 96.88% was found in an ultrafiltration experiment using pure PES membranes. The characteristic of other membranes will be described in detail in this article.

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