Modification and Optimization Study of ZIF‐8 with Branched Polyethyleneimine Modified Polysulfone Membrane

Abstract In this work, zeolitic imidazolate framework‐8 (ZIF‐8) and modified ZIF‐8 with polyethyleneimine (PEI) were incorporated into the PSF (polysulfone) matrix. The fabricated PSF/ZIF‐8‐PEI mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) showed better results (rejection of bovine serum albumin (BSA) 98.9 %) for oil–water emulsion than PSF/ZIF‐8 MMMs. It is noticed that the steady‐state pure water flux (PWF) of PSF/ZIF‐8‐PEI MMMs is 2.73 times greater than PSF/ZIF‐8 MMMs. During the membrane performance for ultrafiltration (UF), various parameters are affected, such as pH, loading of additives, and feed concentration. To determine the optimization performance of the membrane (both filler MMMs), the response surface methodology (RSM) (Box–Behnken method) is used to design the experiment. The optimized results investigated the maximum BSA rejection of 99.99 % and flux recovery ratio (FRR) of (0.97) 97 %. This is the novelty of the present work. The MMMs were characterized in PXED, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), TGA, SEM, and water contact angle (WCA) for confirmation of filler materials.