Improving the permeability and antifouling property of PES ultrafiltration membranes using the drying method and incorporating the CuO-ZnO nanocomposite

In this research, three techniques to control the permeability and the antifouling property of microporous PES membranes fabricated by the phase inversion and posterior drying have been reported. The three explored methods included incorporating the CuO-ZnO nanomaterial in the PES matrix, altering the solvents filling the pores before drying (water, ethanol, isopropanol and 50% acetone/water), and changing the drying temperature from room temperature to 70 °C. Based on the obtained results, it was found that varying the drying solvents and increasing the drying temperature had a tangible effect on the permeability and antifouling property of the bare and blended polyethersulfone (PES) membranes; this, in turn, resulted in improving the pure water flux from 39.3 to 406 kg/m²h. Moreover, addition of the CuO-ZnO nanomaterial in the optimum content (0.2 wt.%) to the PES matrix in wet membranes led to the growth of 47.2% in the permeability and the increase of the flux recovery ration (FRR) to the highest value. However, this addition did not lead to the proposed effect in the case of the dried membranes.