Microplastc filtration behavior of electrospun nanofiber membrane

Abstract

Micro/Nanoplastics (MPs/NPs) is the pollutant that needs to be removed by negatively affecting the environment. To remove MPs and NPs from water effectively, membrane technology has been considered. In this work, MP removal mechanisms from the commercial membrane and electrospun nanofiber membrane were investigated through fouling mechanism analysis in dead-end filtration. The polystyrene microspheres of different sizes (600 nm and 100 nm) were used for the model of MP/NPs. In the case of 600 nm MPs, both membranes have a similar fouling tendency due to the larger size of particles than the membrane pore size. In the case of 100 nm MPs, the commercial membrane was sequentially modeled into standard and intermediate pore blockage, followed by cake layer formation. And the electrospun nanofiber membrane was modeled firstly MP boundary layer formation around nanofiber surface hindering the flux of feed and gradually developed over to the cake layer formations as filtration progressed. The MP removal mechanism of electrospun nanofiber membrane and commercial nanofiber have different removal mechanisms. The MP removal mechanism of the electrospun nanofiber membrane is mainly related to particle adsorption on the nanofiber surface. In addition, the particle adsorption on nanofiber was affected by humic acid adsorbed on MP.