Enhancing the efficiency of modified polypropylene fumarate (PPF) membrane by graphene oxide / pluronic F68 additive for wastewater treatment of ceramic factories

Due to the fact that the wastewater of ceramic factories have higher TDS and turbidity, Poly propylene fumarate (PPF) membranes seems to be suitable for the treatment of this type of wastewater due to their good mechanical performance, adjustable biodegradability and easy production. However, the main disadvantage of the PPF in membrane separation related to hydrophobicity property of it which leads to a low membrane flux and is easily susceptible for fouling. Presence of oxygenated functional groups such as hydroxyl, epoxy, and carboxyl in GO causes the modified membranes have high effective flux and better antifouling property. One of main problem associated   with preparation of membranes containing GO is possibly related to the more homogenous dispersion of GO into the polymer matrix. The presence of Pluronic F-68 can solve this problem.
Material and

In this work, in order to improve the hydrophilic and morphological properties of PPF membrane, the graphene oxide that has been modified by Pluronic F-68 was added in to the membrane. These membranes were prepared with VIPS method.  The effects of the modified additive concentrations and vapor exposure times on hydrophilicity and permeation flux of the PPF membranes in mentioned wastewater treatment were investigated.

Increasing GO/Pluronic F-68 loading from 0 wt. % to 4 wt. %, the hydrophilicity level is increased and the contact angle is decreased by increasing the exposure time up to 30 min due to the high poros ity of membranes than others. The modificated membranes by Pluronic F-68 /GO present higher pure water permeability in comparison with the neat PPF mem brane.
Discussion and

These membranes have higher pure water permeability in comparison with the neat PPF mem brane. The membrane modified with 4wt. % of GO/Pluronic F-68 (Exposure time of 20 min) has high ability in reduction of wastewater pollution indices in comparison with others.