Among many contaminants in wastewater, organic phenol compounds presented a major concern to endanger the water resources safety. In the present study, blend nanofiltration (NF) membranes comprising polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) and polyethersulfone (PES) were prepared via the non-induced phase separation and their performance was examined against 4-Nitrophenol (4-NP). The PES ratio in the dope solution was varied from 6 to 9 wt.% to probe the impact of PES on the retention and permeation characteristics of the final membranes. A series of experimental tools were employed to estimate the characteristics of the membranes, including surface and cross-section, hydrophilicity, pore size and pore size distribution. Performance evaluation of the NF membranes was conducted considering two operational variables; pH and initial feed solution. About 99% removal of 4-NP along with 6.2 L/m²·h·bar was achieved at the optimum operating conditions as revealed by optimization and mathematical modelling.

This study investigated the impact of implanting TiO₂-NPs within a membrane to minimize the influence of long-term operation on the membrane characteristics. Four poly vinyle chloride-titanium oxide (PVC-TiO₂-NPs) membranes were prepared to create an ultrafiltration membrane (UF) that would effectively treat actual refinery wastewater. The hypothesis of this work was that TiO₂-NPs would function as a hydrophilic modification of the PVC membrane and excellent self-cleaning material, which in turn would greatly extend the membrane’s lifetime. The membranes were characterized via Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), atomic force microscope (AFM), and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The removal efficiency of turbidity, total suspended solid (TSS), oil and grease, heavy metals and chemical oxygen demand (COD) were investigated. Contact angle (CA) reduced by 12.7% and 27.5% on the top and bottom surfaces, respectively. The PVC membrane with TiO₂-NPs had larger mean pore size on its surface and more holes with larger size inside the membrane structure. The addition of TiO₂-NPs could remarkably enhance the antifouling property of the PVC membrane. The pure water permeability (PWP) of the membrane was enhanced by 95.3% with an increase of TiO₂ to 1.5 gm/100gm. The PWP after backwashing was reduced from 22.3% for PVC to 10.1% with 1.5 gm TiO₂-NPs. The long-term performance was improved from five days for PVC to 23 d with an increase in TiO₂-NPs to 1.5 gm. The improvements of PVC-TiO₂-NPs long-term were related to the enhancement of the hydrophilic character of the membrane and increase tensile strength due to the reinforcement effect of TiO₂-NPs. These results clearly identify the impact of the TiO₂-NPs content on the long-term PVC/TiO₂-NPs performance and confirm our hypothesis that it is possible to use TiO₂-NPs to effectively enhance the lifetime of membranes during their long-term operation.

Fuel cells have lately received growing attention since they allow the use of non-precious metals as catalysts, which reduce the cost per kilowatt of power in fuel cell devices to some extent. Until recent years, the major barrier in the development of fuel cells was the obtainability of highly conductive anion exchange membranes (AEMs). On the other hand, improvements show that newly enhanced anion exchange membranes have already reached high conductivity levels, leading to the suitable presentation of the cell. Currently, an increasing number of studies have described the performance results of fuel cells. Much of the literature reporting cell performance is founded on hydrogen‒anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs), though a growing number of studies have also reported utilizing fuels other than hydrogen—such as alcohols, non-alcohol C-based fuels, and N-based fuels. This article reviews the types, performance, utilized membranes, and operational conditions of anion exchange membranes for fuel cells.

In this work, a flat-sheet blend membrane was fabricated by a traditional phase inversion method, using the polymer blends poly phenyl sulfone (PPSU) and polyether sulfone (PES) for the ultrafiltration (UF) application. It was hypothesized that adding PES to the PPSU polymer blend would improve the properties of the PPSU membrane. The effect of the PES concentration on the blend membrane properties was investigated extensively. The characteristics of PPSU-PES blend membranes were investigated using atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), contact angle measure, and contaminant (dye) elimination efficiency. This study showed that PES clearly affected the structural formation of the blended membranes. A considerable increase in the average roughness (about 93%) was observed with the addition of 4% PES, with a higher mean pore size accompanied by a rise in the pores’ density on the surface of the membrane. The addition of up to 4% PES had a significant influence on the hydrophilic character of the PPSU-PES membrane, by lowering the value of the contact angle (CA) (i.e., to 56.9°). The performance of the PPSU-PES composite membranes’ UF performance was systematically investigated, and the membrane pure water permeability (PWP) was enhanced by 25% with the addition of 4% PES. The best separation removal factor achieved in the current investigation for dye (Drupel Black NT) was 96.62% for a PPSU-PES (16:4 wt./wt.%) membrane with a 50% feed dye concentration.

In the current work, a Gum, Arabic-modified Graphene (GGA), has been synthesized via a facile green method and employed for the first time as an additive for enhancement of the PPSU ultrafiltration membrane properties. A series of PPSU membranes containing very low (0–0.25) wt.% GGA were prepared, and their chemical structure and morphology were comprehensively investigated through atomic force microscopy (AFM), Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). Besides, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was harnessed to measure thermal characteristics, while surface hydrophilicity was determined by the contact angle. The PPSU-GGA membrane performance was assessed through volumetric flux, solute flux, and retention of sodium alginate solution as an organic polysaccharide model. Results demonstrated that GGA structure had been successfully synthesized as confirmed XRD patterns. Besides, all membranes prepared using low GGA content could impart enhanced hydrophilic nature and permeation characteristics compared to pristine PPSU membranes. Moreover, greater thermal stability, surface roughness, and a noticeable decline in the mean pore size of the membrane were obtained.