separation efficiency of epoxified-polyethersulfone blend membrane for chromium removal

a microporous bisphenol a diglycidyl ether (dgeba) epoxified-polyethersulfone (pes) blend membrane (epes membrane) was prepared through dry-wet phase inversion. this study attempts to correlate the changes in membrane physical and chemical properties when the epes membranes were exposed to different durations of dry-phase inversion, towards the separation efficiency of carcinogen chromium (vi). field emission scanning electron microscopy (fesem) and porometer analysis revealed a small but not significant change of the physical structures of the epes membranes at different durations of dry-phase inversion that are applied. on the other hand, in terms of chemical properties, both fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and contact angle measurement demonstrated enhanced membrane hydrophilicity when a longer period of dry phase inversion was imposed during membrane synthesis. the epes membrane synthesized through 1 h of dry phase inversion showed the most balanced high rejection and permeation performances at 88.84 ± 0.18 % removal of cr (vi) ions with minimum membrane fouling at a steady permeation flux of 11.27 ± 0.35 l/m2h. from the result, epes blend membranes revealed good potential in the removal of carcinogen cr (vi) without jeopardizing the membrane permeation flux.