Studies on fouling by natural organic matter (NOM) on polysulfone membranes: Effect of polyethylene glycol (PEG)

Polysulfone membranes were prepared via phase inversion technique by using polyethylene glycol with molecular weights of 400, 1500 and 6000 Da as pore forming agent in dope formulation. The performance of membrane was characterized using humic acid and water sample taken from Sembrong River, Johor, Malaysia was used as natural organic matter sources. Membrane properties were also characterized in terms of mean pore radius, pure water flux, humic acid rejection and fouling resistance. The results indicated that the pure water flux and mean pore radius of membranes increased with the increase of PEG content. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy results revealed the presence of hydrophilic component in PSf/PEG blend with the significant appearance of O–H peak at 3418.78 cm^− 1. Scanning electron microscopy analysis revealed the presence of finger-like structure for all membranes and the structure intensified as PEG content was increased. The results obtained from the fouling study indicated that the membrane with the lowest PEG content and molecular weight has an excellent performance in mitigating fouling.     

Fabrications and applications of low cost ceramic membrane from kaolin: A comprehensive review

The application of low cost ceramic membrane from kaolin has attracted much interest due to its excellent mechanical stability, chemical and thermal resistivity and most importantly, because it is cost effective, in some cases, compared to polymeric membranes. The advantage of kaolin based ceramic membrane is its thermal properties that allow sintering at much lower temperature than alumina. Although many studies have been made on the application of kaolin based ceramic membranes, detailed discussions were scarcely made and the information on the fabrication of ceramic membrane from kaolin is very limited. This article is aimed to make a comprehensive review on ceramic membrane from kaolin for its fabrication methods and applications. An attempt is also made to show the future direction of the R and D on the kaolin based ceramic membrane.     

A review on sustainable synthesis of zeolite from kaolinite resources via hydrothermal process

Synthesis of zeolite through hydrothermal process has been commonly used for decades. However, it does not satisfy the serious terms of sustainability that leads to reduction of costs, reduction of waste, eliminating negative environmental impacts and improvement of any system efficiency. The bottom line of this review paper is to highlight the current trends in the hydrothermal synthesis of zeolite, attention is paid to the utilization of natural resources and manufacturing wastes as raw materials to synthesize zeolite. Optimum conditions for sustainable hydrothermal synthesis of zeolites from kaolinite natural resources are also studied and discussed in this paper.     

Matrimid‐based carbon tubular membranes: The effect of the polymer composition

In this article, we present a development study of new membrane materials and enhancements of productive membranes to improve the current performance of polymeric membranes. Carbon membranes are a promising material for this matter as they offer an improvement in the gas‐separation performance and exhibit a good combination of permeability and selectivity. Carbon membranes produced from the carbonization of polymeric materials have been reported to be effective for gas separation because of their ability to separate gases with almost similar molecular sizes. In this study, a carbon support membrane was prepared with Matrimid 5218 as a polymeric precursor. The polymer solution was coated on the surface of a tubular support with the dip‐coating method. The polymer tubular membrane was then carbonized under a nitrogen atmosphere with different polymer compositions of 5–18 wt %. The carbonization process was performed at 850°C at a heating rate of 2°C/min. Matrimid‐based carbon tubular membranes were fabricated and characterized in terms of their structural morphology, thermal stability, and gas‐permeation properties with scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and a pure‐gas‐permeation system, respectively. Pure‐gas‐permeation tests were performed with the pure gases carbon dioxide (CO₂) and N₂ at room temperature at a pressure of 8 bar. On the basis of the results, the highest CO₂/N₂ selectivity of 75.73 was obtained for the carbon membrane prepared with a 15 wt % polymer composition. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 42394.     

One Shot of the Hydrothermal Route for the Synthesis of Zeolite LTA Using Kaolin

Journal of Inorganic and Organometallic Polymers and Materials - The zeolite LTA (Z-LTA) was successfully produced from the synthesis of kaolin and well-crystallized using a hydrothermal method....