Preparation and characterisation of Nylon/PEG/PAN composite membrane for liquid filtration

Abstract

A novel method has been proposed to prepare a Nylon/PEG/PAN composite membrane for the improvement of electrospun PAN fibre properties and filtration efficiency. Polyacrylonitrile fibre has been prepared by electrospinning technique. Different proportions of blended mixture of Nylon and PEG are prepared separately. Blended mixture of Nylon and PEG is poured over the electrospun PAN to prepare a Nylon/PEG/PAN composite membrane. The prepared Nylon/PEG/PAN composite membrane and Nylon/PEG membrane are characterized by using optical microscope, porosimeter, X-ray diffractometer and thermogravimetric analysis. Filtration efficiency of the prepared Nylon/PEG/PAN composite membrane is studied using pure water flux and oil water emulsion methods. The 50/50 proportion of Nylon and PEG has been identified for getting uniform and evenly distributed pores and also it shows around 80% of solute rejection, whereas 60/40 proportion shows little bit higher percentage due to higher proportion of Nylon. Thus, the pure water flux of 60/40 and 50/50 PAN/PEG/Nylon membranes met with the recommended pure water flux.