Modification of reinforced hollow fiber membranes with WO nanosheets for treatment of textile wastewater by membrane bioreactor.

In this study, performance of braid reinforced hollow fiber membrane containing polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) embedded with tungsten trioxide (WO) nanosheets in a membrane bioreactor (MBR) was examined for textile wastewater treatment. The WO nanosheets was synthesized and blended at different concentrations (0.1-0.02 wt%) in casting solutions of the membranes. The WO nanosheets characterized using various tests such as XRD, FTIR, SEM, EDS, dot-mapping, and TEM. Furthermore, the effects of the increased WO nanosheets into the PVDF matrix on the membrane morphology, hydrophilicity, permeability, antifouling, and COD and color removal efficiency was investigated. The addition of 0.1 wt% of the nanosheets reduces the water contact angle from 69.3° to 62.5° while increasing overall porosity from 37.5 to 43.2%. COD and color removal for PVDF/0.10 wt% WO membrane was between 86-89% and 72-76%, respectively. While the TMP of modified WO membranes did not significantly increase due to antimicrobial properties of the WO nanosheets, the TMP of the pure PVDF membrane increase, indicating considerable cake layer fouling. The results of this study showed that modification of PVDF braid reinforced hollow fiber membrane using WO nanosheets is promising membrane for MBR systems.