Porous and fractal analysis on the permeability of nanofiltration membranes for the removal of metal ions
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Springer Science+Business Media New York
Abstract
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Porous and fractal analysis on the permeability
of nanofiltration membranes was investigated for the
removal of metal ions. The permeability of a porous
membranes used in wastewater treatment is strongly
depended on its local geometry and connectivity, the size
distribution of the pores available for flow. Fouling studies
with two different membranes at three different pHs were
carried out with manganese and magnesium. It was shown
that the tighter membrane was less rougher and less fouled
compared with the rougher membrane. NF90-2450 showed
the highest degree of fouling. The X-ray diffraction showed
that NF90-2540 consist of a pronounced diamond at the
angle of 45 �C which was responsible for porosity. The
threshold images were obtained from the scanning electron
microscopy images with the use of Image J software confirmed
that NF90-2540 has higher percentage porosity
when compared with the percentage porosity of NF1540-3.
An evaluation of the relationships between porosity and
permeability for the fractal analysis by a box counting was
done. The evaluation also confirmed that the lower fractal
dimension corresponds to a lower value of porosity. The
higher the pH, the lower the fractal dimension of the used
membranes due to the blockage of pores. A higher value of
fractal dimension of the used membrane at a lower pH
corresponds to a lower rejection of the metal ions.
Keywords
T Technology (General), TP Chemical technology