Preparation of polyether sulfone composite-based membrane for palm oil mill effluent treatment

Palm oil mill effluent (POME) is one of the major problems that affect the environment and water resources caused by the palm oil extraction process. The ultrafiltration process is one of the most effective membrane processes for treating wastewater. However, the weakness of the ultrafiltration process is fouling that effect a decrease in flux. This work aims to study the coating of Polyether sulfone (PES) membrane with polydopamine (PDA) and polyethyleneimine (PEI) for POME wastewater treatment. The coated membranes were characterized using X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). The five cycles of the POME wastewater filtration test were conducted to evaluate the antifouling performance of all membranes calculated from flux recovery ratio (%FRR). The experimental results showed that the PES membrane
was adhered successfully by PDA and PEI. After the five cycles of the POME wastewater filtration test, the PES membrane exhibits the lowest flux recovery ratio (20%) indicating that organic matter in POME wastewater was fouling the membrane surface. The PES membrane coated with PDA and PEI exhibits a flux recovery ratio of the highest (88%), indicating that PES membrane coated with PDA and PEI was better at antifouling from POME than the PES membrane.