chitosan/polyethersulfone composite nanofiltration membrane for industrial wastewater treatment

chitosan/polyethersulfone (cs/pes) composite membrane was prepared from casting chitosan solution on polyethersulfone substrate membrane. the substrate membrane was prepared by phase inversion technique using polyethersulfone (pes) and dimethylacetamide (dmac) as solvent with and without the addition of polyvinylpyrrolidone (pvp) as pore-forming agent. the effects of the composition of the casting solution on membrane morphology and water permeation were investigated. the membrane prepared from 15 wt % pes with 2.25 wt % pvp demonstrated better water permeability compared to other compositions. cs/pes composite membrane flux and retention were 5.2 lit/m2hr and 76.15%, respectively. the mean pore size of the composite membrane was calculated as 0.99 nm.