Fabrication of LD-slag derived zeolite Y coated polysulfone (PSf) membrane for decontamination of groundwater

Faujesite type zeolite Y was prepared via ultrasonic energy facilitated hydrothermal technique using Linz-Donawitz (LD) process slag as a precursor material. The surface modification of the polysulfone membrane was conducted with the as-synthesized zeolite powder in the presence of N-methyl pyrrolidone (NMP) solvent. The synthetic zeolite nanoparticles (ZNPs) were sonicated by mixing them in NMP solvent before spreading over the membrane surface. The ZNPs layered flat sheet membrane was fabricated via dry-cast technique followed by phase inversion. The optimization of drying temperature and time was studied along with the variation of ZNPs wt.% to obtain defect-free membranes. The developed ZNPs layered membranes were characterized for mem-brane morphology, surface roughness, mechanical strength, thermal stability, functional group analysis, and surface hydrophilicity. The chemical characterization of all fabricated membranes was examined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). An increased water flux of 28.83 L/m(2)h was obtained whereas the fluoride concentration was reduced to 1.47 mg/L (similar to 50.33 % reduction) for the optimized PSf/Zeolite-1 wt% membrane. Moreover, other contaminants namely chromium (Cr6+) and manganese (Mn2+) were removed very significantly by utilizing the modified PSf/Zeolite-1 wt% membrane. The regeneration experiment was conducted utilizing an HCl solution through dead-end filtration. The flux recovery of membrane PSf/Zeolite-1 wt% was found to be 85.43 % with an antifouling improvement of 42.70 %.