Fabrication of nanocomposite membranes for drinking water treatment: Modeling of thermal and mechanical behavior

Recent advancements in membrane filtration have highlighted the significant potential of inorganic-organic composite membranes for next-generation membrane technologies. These membranes integrate the stability of inorganic materials with the processability of organic polymers. Inorganic materials like silver (Ag) and titanium dioxide (TiO2) not only enhance membrane hydrophilicity but also contribute significantly to improving mechanical strength, imparting antibacterial properties, and providing anti-fouling characteristics, thereby extending membrane lifespan. This study investigates the effects of incorporating silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and titanium (IV) dioxide (TiO2) into membranes fabricated from polysulfone (PSf) and PSf/polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) blends. A total of 18 different membrane variations were produced by adding AgNPs and TiO2 both individually and in combination, at varying weight percentages of 0.25%, 0.5%, and 1%. All membranes were prepared using the phase inversion method. The resulting membranes were comprehensively characterized and compared in terms of roughness, surface morphology, porosity, water uptake capacity, pore size, and mechanical and thermal properties. Furthermore, flux performance was evaluated under various conditions using a dead-end filtration setup: pure water permeation through clean membranes, Terkos Lake water permeation through clean membranes, and pure water permeation through fouled membranes. The membranes' fouling resistance performance was assessed by determining the flux recovery ratio (FRR), total fouling ratio (RT), irreversible fouling ratio (Rir), and reversible fouling ratio (Rr). Finally, the membranes were modeled using the Mori-Tanaka and Theory of Mixtures methods.