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Resilient forward osmosis membranes against microplastics fouling enhanced by MWCNTs/UiO-66-NH2 hybrid nanoparticles
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Researchers developed improved forward osmosis membranes by incorporating hybrid nanoparticles made of multi-wall carbon nanotubes and metal-organic frameworks to resist microplastic fouling. The modified membranes showed enhanced performance and greater resistance to clogging by microplastic particles. The study presents a promising approach for improving membrane-based water treatment systems that need to handle microplastic-contaminated wastewater.
The escalating presence of microplastics (MPs) in wastewater necessitates the investigation of effective tertiary treatment process. Forward osmosis (FO) emerges as an effective non-pressurized membrane process, however, for the effective implementation of FO systems, the development of fouling-resistance FO membranes with high-performance is essential. This study focuses on the integration of MWCNT/UiO-66-NH as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) nanocomposites in thin film composite (TFC) FO membranes, harnessing the synergistic power of hybrid nanoparticles in FO membranes. The results showed that the addition of MWCNT/UiO-66-NH in the aqueous phase during polyamide formation changed the polyamide surface structure, and enhanced membranes' hydrophilicity by 44%. The water flux of the modified FO membrane incorporated with 0.1 wt% MWCNTs/UiO-66-NH increased by 67% and the reverse salt flux decreased by 22% as in comparison with the control membrane. Moreover, the modified membrane showed improved antifouling behavior against both organic foulant and MPs. The MWCNT/UiO-66-NH membrane experienced 35% flux decline while the control membrane experienced 65% flux decline. This proves that the integration of MWCNT/UiO-66-NH nanoparticles into TFC FO membranes is a viable approach in creating advanced FO membranes with high antifouling propensity with potential to be expanded further to other membrane applications.
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