Fouling analysis of polyvinyl chloride/polyethylene glycol‐b‐poly(1,2‐dichloroethylene) blend membranes for oily wastewater treatment

Abstract Polyethylene glycol‐b‐poly(1,2‐dichloroethylene)/polyvinyl chloride membranes were prepared and evaluated in oily wastewater treatment. The fouling mechanisms were investigated using Resistance‐in‐series and Hermia's models. The effects of membrane composition on the fouling were also studied. The surface hydrophilicity, roughness, density of finger‐like voids and porosity of the membranes were enhanced by blending the PEG‐b‐PDCE. The pore size of membranes shifted toward smaller pores as the PEG‐b‐PDCE concentration increased to 0.075 wt.%. The M‐3 membrane was found to be the best one showing 749.11 L.m −2 .h −1 flux and 99.76% oil rejection, 82.90% porosity, 55.17 contact angle and 50 nm mean pore size. In addition, irreversible resistance was the main cause of the fouling and the results showed that complete blockage and intermediate pore blocking models yielded the best fit to data for the neat and PVC/PEG‐b‐PDCE membranes. The PEG‐b‐PDCE proved to be a good candidate for PVC membrane engineering and can be tested for other constituent polymers.