A high-flux metal-organic framework membrane (PSF/MIL-100 (Fe)) for the removal of microplastics adsorbing dye contaminants from textile wastewater

In this work, sustainably synthesized metal-organic framework (MOFs) MIL-100 (Fe) nanoparticles were incorporated into polysulfone (PSF) matrix to fabricate a novel PSF/MIL-100 (Fe) composite membrane. Compared to the pristine PSF membrane (M0), incorporation of the hydrophilic MIL-100 (Fe) nanoparticles significantly altered the membrane morphology, hydrophilicity (water contact angle reduced to 64.2° ± 1.2 from 84.6° ± 1), work of adhesion (WA), wetting energy (WE), porosity, and pore size. Furthermore, loading 0.5 wt% of MIL-100 (Fe) particles into the PSF matrix (M0.5) was found to deliver the uppermost performance relative to the membranes with other loadings. Those above mentioned, M0.5 membrane comprise superior pure water flux (10.3 times higher than M0) with more than 99% rejection efficiency of methylene blue (MB) and excellent anti-fouling performances for MB dye, microplastics (MPs) + MB dye solutions. Furthermore, the M0.5 membrane sustained an outstanding performance at various concentrations of MB dye, MPs, and a range of transmembrane pressures (TMPs). In addition, the membrane exhibited moderate salt rejection efficiency and reusability for as many as six cycles of MB dye rejection without compromising the permeability and anti-fouling performances. Overall, the fabricated PSF/MIL-100 (Fe) composite membrane proposed an efficient route to separate the contaminants from textile wastewater.