Antibiofouling Performance by Polyethersulfone Membranes Cast with Oxidized Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes and Arabic Gum

Membranes
Ahmad NajjarViktor Kochkodan

Abstract

Despite extensive research efforts focusing on tackling membrane biofouling, one of the biggest problems associated with membrane technology, there has been little headway in this area. This study presents novel polyethersulfone (PES) membranes synthesized via a phase inversion method at incremental loadings of functionalized oxidized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (OMWCNT) along with 1 wt. % arabic gum (AG). The synthesized OMWCNT were examined using scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy for morphological changes compared to the commercially obtained carbon nanotubes. Additionally energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy was carried out on the raw and OMWCNT materials, indicating an almost 2-fold increase in oxygen content in the latter sample. The cast PES/OMWCNT membranes were extensively characterized, and underwent a series of performance testing using bovine serum albumin solution for fouling tests and model Gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli) bacterial species for anti-biofouling experiments. Results indicated that the composite PES membranes, which incorporated the OMWCNT and AG, possessed significantly stronger hydrophilicity and negative surface charge as eviden...Continue Reading

References

Apr 20, 2004·Environmental Pollution·K FytianosN Raikos
Aug 3, 2010·Nature Reviews. Microbiology·Hans-Curt Flemming, Jost Wingender
Sep 22, 2010·Journal of the American Chemical Society·Hailiang WangHongjie Dai
Oct 1, 2011·Chemical Research in Toxicology·Vanesa C SanchezAgnes B Kane
May 15, 2013·Journal of Hazardous Materials·Farid Ahmed, Debora F Rodrigues
Aug 25, 2015·Journal of Environmental Health Science & Engineering·Reza RezaeeShahrokh Nazmara

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
membrane filtration
scanning
X-ray
scanning electron microscopy
AFM

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