Separation of heavy metal and protein from wastewater by sulfonated polyphenylsulfone ultrafiltration membrane process prepared by glycine betaine enriched coagulation bath

This work deals with a simple and eco-friendly approach for the development of ultrafiltration membranes for the separation of environmentally hazardous substances from the water source. Polysulfone and sulfonated polyphenylsulfone blend ultrafiltration membranes were fabricated by the non-solvent induced phase inversion technique. Prepared membranes were characterized for their morphology, hydrophilicity, porosity, filtration and antifouling properties. The blend membranes with 15 wt% of sPPSU demonstrated the best performance with water flux of 190.33 Lm(-2)h(-1) and flux recovery ratio of 86.56%. The effect of aq. glycine betaine (GB) coagulation bath on the membrane property and performance was studied and compared with commonly used additives such as NaCl and NMP. The GB in coagulation bath exhibited better flux and performance with protein rejection of 66.3%, 74.0% and 91.2% for trypsin, pepsin, and bovine serum albumin, respectively, and heavy metal rejection of 75.2% and 87.6% for polymer enhanced ultrafiltration of Cd2+ and Pb2+ ions, respectively.