Tailor Made Thin Film Composite Membranes: Potentiality Towards Removal of Hydroquinone from Water

The study investigated the use of thin film composite membrane (TFC) as a potential candidate for hydroquinone removal from water. Thin film composite membranes were prepared by polyamide coating on Polysulfone asymmetric membrane. FTIR study was performed to verify the Polysulfone as well as polyamide functionality. TFC membrane was characterized by contact angle, zeta potential, scanning electron microscopy studies. The salt rejection trend was seen from 500 to 1000 mg/L. The membrane is marked by permeability co-efficient B based on solution diffusion studies. The value is 0.98 × 10^?6 m/s for NaCl solution at 1.4 MPa. The separation performance was 88.87% for 5 mg/L hydroquinone at 1.4 MPa. The separation was little bit lowered in acid medium because of the nature of the membrane and feed solute chemistry. The ‘pore swelling’ and ‘salting out’ influenced hydroquinone separation in the presence of NaCl. The hydroquinone separation was 80.63% in 1000 mg/L NaCl solution. In acidic pH, NaCl separation was influenced much more compared to hydroquinone. The separation is influenced by field water matrix.