Treatment of textile dye effluents using a new photografted nanofiltration membrane Original Research Article

A nanofiltration membrane has been developed by UV-photografting. Sodium p-styrene sulfonate was used for the modification of a polysulfone ultrafiltration membrane. The membrane cut-off was estimated. The grafted membranes have been evaluated for the removal of five different dyes with an aim to reuse water in the process house. The effect of different parameters such as dye class, pH and the presence of salt was evaluated. It is observed that the newly developed membranes show acceptable performance both in terms of flux and rejection. Dye retention was higher than 97% and hydraulic permeability 0.23–0.28 m3.m−2.d−1 at 0.4 MPa. The influence of pH on the performance of membranes in terms of fouling and retention was established and compared to a commercial membrane (Desal 5DK).