Preparation and characterization of PAN/TiO2 composite membranes for grey water treatment using Rotary jet spinning

• Rotary jet spinning enabled fast nanofiber production membranes. • Titanium dioxide addition greatly enhanced membrane surface wettability. • Reduced fiber size boosted porosity and enhanced greywater purification. • Optimized membranes achieved over 62% chemical oxygen demand removal. With industrial expansion and increasing water demand, pollution caused by untreated wastewater has become a major environmental concern. This work focused on creating a membrane made from polyacrylonitrile and titanium dioxide (PAN/TiO 2 ) through the spinning jet method. The characterization of the composited membrane was carried out by using XRD, FTIR, SEM, and FESEM techniques. The effectiveness of the fabricated composite membrane in treating grey water and its performance were experimented with on a laboratory scale. The Taguchi method was employed to design the performance experiments and optimize the effective parameters. The results indicated that decreasing PAN concentration and increasing rotation speed resulted in smaller nanofiber diameters, while adding TiO 2 enhanced membrane hydrophilicity. The smallest achieved nanofiber diameter was 439 nm. The tests showed a maximum porosity of 71% and a minimum pore size of 0.511 µm. The laboratory results were analyzed using Minitab Software, which identified that the optimal conditions for the process were 13 wt% PAN concentration, 5500 rpm rotation speed, 5 wt% TiO 2 concentration, and 2 bar pressure. In this case, the membrane efficiency in greywater treatment was 62.3%, based on COD rejection. PAN/TiO 2 membranes show promise for grey water treatment.