ABSTRACT
Polysulfone polymer with higher pore size and higher charge density shows great potential for forming membranes and are capable of removing pollutants such as nitrate and phosphate from water. But its hydrophobic nature affects its function for membrane filtration. One solution to solve this problem is to add inorganic polymeric additives to polysulfone (PSF) membranes. In the present study, the polysulfone chitosan (PSF-CS) membrane was prepared by phase inversion method with dimethylacetamide as solvent. The effect of pH, contact time, temperature and chitosan concentration on membrane performance were studied. The structure property elucidation of membrane such as phase identification, crystalline stability and the surface functional groups of the adsorbents involved in adsorption was examined by X-ray diffraction and Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy. The membrane showed percent nitrate removal of about 78% and 72% for phosphate. The study investigated that the polysulfone chitosan membrane was effective in removing the nitrate than phosphate. The treated water was found to be potable with permissible limit of nitrate.
