A preliminary study on cellulose acetate composite membranes: effect of nanoparticles types in their preparation and application

Abstract

Abstract This work reported a new perspective on improving the incorporation of nanoparticles(NPs) into membranes for several applications. Composite membranes were produced via the phase inversion method using cellulose acetate (CA) as the polymer, mixed with four different NPs: ZnO and Fe3O4 NPs were prepared by the co-precipitation method, while SiO2 and TiO2 NPs were commercial NPs. The impact of NPs on the membrane morphology was investigated by SEM and AFM. The composite CA membranes have been characterized by their contact angle, porosity, and water content. Membrane performance has been investigated in terms of water permeability and salt retention such as NaCl and Na2SO4. The produced CA composite membrane could be successfully applied for salt removal, particularly the CA-Fe3O4 composite membrane, which shows good water permeability (15.4 L/m2h bar) and higher salt rejection (93%).Consequently, the use of low-density hydrophilic NPs in the polymeric dope solution produces membranes with higher hydrophilicity and the ability to reduce the membrane fouling.