Malaysian Journal of Analytical Sciences Vol 22 No 3 (2018): 514 - 521

PREPARATION, CHARACTERIZATION AND PERFORMANCE OF POLYVINYLIDENE FLUORIDE/TETRAOCTYL PHOSPHONIUM BROMIDE NANOCOMPOSITE ULTRAFILTRATION MEMBRANE

(Penyediaan, Pencirian dan Prestasi Membran Ultraturasan Nanokomposit Polivinilidena Flourida/Tetraoktil Fosfonium Bromida)

Asmadi Ali¹*, Connie Ling Mee Yu¹,Nur Alyaa Mohd Sani¹, Mohd Aidil Adha Abdullah², Mohamad Awang¹, Nor Shalihan Mohamed¹, Mohd Azizi Che Yunus³

¹School of Ocean Engineering

²School of Fundamental Science

Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia.

³Centre of Lipid Engineering and Applied Research (CLEAR),

Ibnu Sina Institute for Industrial and Scientific Research,

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia

*Corresponding author: asmadi@umt.edu.my

Received: 16 April 2017; Accepted: 7 March 2018

Abstract

Ultrafiltration (UF) membrane is widely used in many industrial areas and applications. Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) is one of the commonly used materials for UF membrane fabrication due to its excellent properties. However, its hydrophobic nature causes the decrease of its demands and limits its applications. Hence, tetraoctyl phosphonium bromide (TOPBr) clay was used as a nanofiller material and was added into the PVDF matrix to decrease the hydrophobic surface through the antifouling properties of the PVDF/TOPBr nanocomposite membrane. The phase inversion process was employed for membrane fabrication which characterizes the water content and porosity of the PVDF/TOPBr nanocomposite UF membrane and to determine the performance of membrane in terms of pure water permeation, protein separation and fouling parameters. The results showed the increment of TOPBr dosage increases the water content and porosity, as well as enhances the porosity structure of PVDF/TOPBr nanocomposite membrane compared to the original PVDF membrane. The protein separation performance test revealed that after the addition of TOPBr, the flux increased from 2.06 L/m².h to 20.22 L/m².h with a 1.0 wt.% increase in protein separation as a result of the increase in the membrane hydrophilicity and porosity of the nanocomposite membrane. Moreover, PVDF/TOPBr1.0 nanocomposite showed the highest antifouling properties and flux recovery at 93% compared to other PVDF/TOPBr, as well as the native PVDF membrane.

Keywords: ultrafiltration, nanocomposite membrane, polyvinylidene fluoride, clay

Abstrak

Membran ultraturasan (UF) digunakan secara meluas dalam banyak industri dan aplikasinya. Polivinilidena fluorida (PVDF) adalah bahan yang biasanya digunakan untuk fabrikasi membran kerana mempunyai sifat yang cemerlang. Walaubagaimanapun, sifat asal yang hidrofobik menyebabkan penurunan permintaannya dan menghadkan penggunaannya. Maka, tanah liat tetraoktil fosfonium bromida (TOBr) telah digunakan sebagai bahan pengisi nano dan ditambah ke dalam matrik PVDF untuk mengurangkan permukaan hidrofobik melalui sifat antikotoran oleh membran nanokomposit PVDF/TOPBr. Proses fasa sonsangan digunakan untuk fabrikasi membran yang mencirikan kandungan air dan keliangan membran nanoomposit PVDF/TOPBr dan untuk menentukan prestasi membran dari segi penyerapan air tulen, pemisahan protein dan parameter pengotoran. Keputusan menunjukkan kenaikan dos TOPBr meningkatkan kandungan air dan keliangan, serta meningkatkan struktur keliangan membran nanokomposit PVDF/TOPBr berbanding dengan membran PVDF asal. Ujian prestasi pemisahan protein menunjukkan bahawa selepas penambahan TOPBr, fluks meningkat dari 2.06 L/m².h kepada 20.22 L/m².h dengan kenaikan 1.0 wt.% dalam pemisahan protein akibat daripada peningkatan hidrofilik membran dan keliangan membran nanokomposit. Selain itu, nanokomposit PVDF/TOPBr1.0 menunjukkan sifat antikotoran yang tertinggi dan pemulihan fluks pada 93% berbanding dengan PVDF /TOPBr yang lain serta membran PVDF asli.

Kata kunci: ultraturasan, membran nanokomposit, polivinilidena fluorida, tanah liat

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