REDUCTION OF COD FROM SIMULATED WASTEWATER BY FABRICATED HYDROPHOBIC MEMBRANE

Abstract

Hydrophobic membrane was fabricated using 15% of Polysulfone (PSF) as a polymer and 85% of dimethylformamide (DMF) as a solvent by phase inversion method. Distilled  water was used to test water flux and membrane permeation. Scanning electron microscope was used to study the structural changes on the membrane surface. Synthetic wastewater was used to test the efficiency of the hydrophobic membrane. Membrane efficiency examined by chemical oxygen demand (COD) percentage removal. The results showed that the pure water flux dropped from 85 L/m2.hr to 75 L/m2.hr. for the first run and from 86 L/m2.hr to 82 L/m2.hr for the second and third runs. For synthetic wastewater the flux dropped from 75 to 38 L/m2.hr, 75 L/m2.hr to 52 L/m2.hr and 75 to 45 L/m2.hr for the first, second and third runs, respectively. Removal efficiency of COD was 90% after 10 days, then it dropped down to 70 %, after cleaning the membrane, the removing increased up to 90% after 8 days.