Synergistic effect of Cloisite 15A and 30B nanofillers on the characteristics of nanocomposite polyethersulfone membrane

Abstract Considering the environmental risks of oily wastewater and the impressive role of membrane technology in refining these wastes, preparation of a highly durable well performed polymeric membrane with improved antifouling properties was taken into account in this study. For this purpose, two different clay-based nanofillers i.e., Cloisite 15A and 30B organoclays were examined as nanofiller in polyethersulfone membrane matrix. The synergistic effect of hybrid nanofiller addition on the membrane efficacy was probed using oily water filtration, morphological and mechanical characterization tests as well as the fouling investigations. It was found that embedding equal amounts of Cloisite 15A and 30B resulted in the most preferred membrane among all the prepared samples with different ratios of two nano-additives. Hybrid nanofiller resulted in higher oil rejection (99.1%), acceptable water permeability, high flux recovery (95%) after getting fouled with oil as well as higher mechanical resistance compared with bare PES and also single filler nanocomposite membranes.