Silicone-coated Alumina Hollow Fiber Membranes for Sustainable Microplastic Seperation in Water System

Microplastic (MP) pollution represents a new wave of some of the most devastating environmental stressors, with such an impact on aquatic environment degradation, food chain contamination, and human health. Conventional filtration techniques are ineffective toward smaller MPs; hence there is a dire need for advanced methods of filtration. The present study fabricates and evaluates silicone-coated alumina hollow fiber membranes (AHFMs) by curing temperature variation, membrane configuration variation, and flow rate conditions variation. Contact angle analyses found that the curing at 60°C optimized rapid water interaction and at 70°C gave stable hydrophilicity which can be used for long-term applications. Multi-membrane configurations greatly improve water throughput validating surface area expansion that does not compromise MP separation. Flow rate variations influenced how much volume was collected but did not influence separation efficiency since all tested modules demonstrated complete removal of MPs. This puts a seal on the noticeable increase in durability and antifouling performance of AHFMs with silicone coatings, hence their ability to work perfectly well under diverse hydraulic conditions. The results prove that productivity is actually a function of operative conditions while selectivity lies within the material property as engineered. That places silicone-coated AHFMs as an accessible technology toward community-based purification systems up to industrial wastewater treatment plants. Apart from bringing membrane science one step closer, this study also plays its share in the Sustainable Development Goal 6 by offering an upbeat, resilient, and sustainable technology for mitigating global water contamination by microplastics.