Desenvolvimento de Membranas de Matriz Mista baseadas em argilominerais e polímeros condutores para tratamento de água potável e de reuso

Abstract

DEVELOPMENT OF MIXED MATRIX MEMBRANES BASED ON CLAY MINERALS AND CONDUCTIVE POLYMERS FOR THE TREATMENT OF DRINKING WATER AND REUSE. The imbalance between the demand and supply of drinking water for the population has placed a persistent strain on the available water resources. Given this scenario, water treatment and the development of innovative technologies that maximize the purification of effluents has been a highlight of research . In this context, polymeric membranes have been in evidence due to their versatility, efficiency and economy. However, there is a limitation in the use of this material, which is the formation of fouling. In order to solve this limitation, this project proposed the development of Mixed Matrix Membranes (MMM) with conductive characteristics. Since changes in the electrical nature of the surface of the membranes (electrostatic forces) which can repel the fouling agents. The membranes were obtained by the phase inversion method from the combination of polyethersulfone (PES) and the conductive polymer (Pani). For the study of antifouling activity, the membranes were immersed in a bovine albumin serum so lution and left for 24 hours in agitation then they were exposed to an anionic solution for albumin desorption. The membrane with the best antifouling activity was the one that contained 0.2% Pani, so this was selected for the continuation of the project. The Pani concentration was fixed, and new membranes were produced with silanized sepiolite (Sep). Sepiolite was incorporated into the membrane PES Pani to analyze the complementary influence of a nanoparticle on the antifouling capacity in conjunction wit h Pani . MMM's containing 0.2% Pani and varying the Sep concentration had an increase in hydrophilicity and in the degree of swelling, consequently an increase in the contact angle was seen for this material. Furthermore, the synergy of this material result ed in an increase in the conductivity of the membranes. The membrane containing 0.2% Pani and 1% Sep had the best antifouling result with a protein elimination of around 99.76%.