Cellulose Acetate Nanofiltration Membranes for Cadmium Remediation

Abstract

In this work, cellulose acetate (CA) nanofiltration (NF) membranes were prepared via non-solvent phase inversion technique (NIPS). Polymer concentration was varied from 22 to 25 wt% in order to study its effect on the membrane properties. The fabricated membranes were characterized in terms of morphological analysis using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), contact angle, water content, water permeability and salts retention such as Na2SO4, CaCl2 and NaCl. Membranes performances were evaluated for cadmium Cd2+ removal using three types of cadmium salt: CdCl2, Cd(NO3)2 and CdSO4. The effects of several operating parameters such as the pH of the feed solution (2-12), trans-membrane pressure (0-14 bar), feed concentration (10-4-10-2 mol.L-1) and ionic strength were also studied and investigated. Results evidenced that the prepared CA-NF membranes consists of a sustainable remediation of Cadmium contamination for safe water supply.