Efficient heavy metals and salts rejection using a novel modified polysulfone nanofiltration membrane

Abstract Recent research proclivity is about supplying water for drinking, urban and industrial applications which is recognized as one of the most significant challenges that threaten humanity. Giving its simplicity and high efficient yield, membrane technology has been preferred compared to other separation technologies for water and wastewater treatment. In the present research, KIT-6 (KIT: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) was functionalized by H-acid to improve hydrophilic functional groups on KIT-6 surface. Different characterization tests were performed to prove the insertion of H-acid on KIT-6 (H-KIT-6), e.g., FT-IR, XRD, zeta potential and FESEM analysis. Also, the effects of different loading of KIT-6 and H-KIT-6 on the morphology, characteristics and performance of Polysulfone (PSf) nanofiltration (NF) membranes were investigated. The maximum pure water flux (30.2 kg/m 2 h), the lowest irreversible fouling ratio (3.96%) and the highest flux recovery ratio (96.04%) were obtained for the membrane embedded with 0.1 wt.% H-KIT-6 (optimum membrane). Also, the performance of the synthesized membranes was evaluated by rejection of four different salts (K 2 SO 4 , MgSO 4 , KCl and NaCl) and heavy metal ions (As 3+ and Hg 2+ ). The NF membrane embedded with 0.1 wt.% H-KIT-6 also presented the highest rejection of different salts and heavy metal ions (As 3+ = 99.85% and Hg 2+ = 99.27%) compared to the others. Finally, the performance of the optimum membrane to treat a real case of Gachsaran brackish water was assessed. As a result, by applying the optimum membrane, 565 mg/l, 28 mg/l and 27 mg/l of Ca 2+ , SO 4 2− and Mg 2+ were rejected, respectively.