Surface-coated PVDF@TAPEG selective ultrafiltration membranes: an investigation on membranes’ hydrophilicity, and antifouling characteristics for effective humic acid removal from wastewater

This research aimed to synthesize polyvinyl fluoride membranes and coat them with tannic acid (TA) nanoparticles and polyethylene glycol (PEG) additives so that the membrane’s removal efficacy for humic acid (HA) pollutant from agricultural wastewater was investigated. Thus, six membranes with PEG:TA ratios of 0:0, 1:0, 0:1, 1:1, 4:1, and 1:4 were synthesized. Then, the membranes’ characteristics were identified by FTIR-ATR, FESEM, and AFM analysis, and HA’s particle size and zeta potential were also investigated. Based on optimizing effective parameters, the operating pressure of 1.5 bar and HA concentration of 80 ppm were selected as optimal values. The membrane with PEG:TA = 4:1, as the optimally modified membrane, had a pure water flux of 446.03 L/m2.h, effluent flux of 72.43 L/m2.h, and pollutant removal rate of 86.62% at pH = 7 after 60 min had passed. These values for the pristine membrane (PEG:TA = 0:0) were 265.64 L/m2.h, 89.39 L/m2.h, and 75.59%, respectively. The results showed that although the effluent flux was lower in the optimized modified membrane than in the pristine membrane, HA removal percentage was increased.