Removal of organic pollutants using polysulfone ultrafiltration membrane containing polystyrene silicomolybdate nanoparticles: Case study: Borg El Arab area

Polysulfone (PSf) nanocomposite ultrafiltration (UF) membrane was prepared using polystyrene silicomolybdate (SiMo/PS) nanoparticles (NPs). The spherical SiMo/PS particles can be simply doped into a PSf membrane via the phase inversion process, which allows the hydrophilic SiMo/PS spheres to migrate to the hydrophobic PSf surface and facilitates the antifouling capability of the membrane, especially its anti-bacterial activity. Consequently, the nanocomposite hybrid membrane (SiMo/PS/PSf) displays excellent overall completion in separation performance compared with pure (PSf) and polystyrene/PSf (PS/PSf) membranes, where nanosized SiMo particles (70 nm) can completely and uniformly diffuse through the flat surface of the PS spheres. However, for bovine serum albumin (BSA) solution, the outcomes show that the modified membranes have a 99% rejection (compared to 90% for the basic membrane). Also, contact angle measurements expose that adding the NPs increases the hydrophilicity of the PSf surface. This membrane could be an exceptional material for water treatment purposes.