To cite this article: Mohd. Amin, I. N. H. & Ishak, N. F. H. (2018). Ultrafiltration behaviour of trihalomethanes (THMs) from petrochemical wastewater. J. Phys. Sci., 29(Supp. 3), 55–62, https://doi.org/10.21315/jps2018.29.s3.7
ABSTRACT
This work investigated the ultrafiltration of trihalomethanes (THMs) from petrochemical wastewater by polyethersulfone (PES) membrane. The ultrafiltration process was carried out by using UHP-62 dead-end filter cell unit. The wastewater was initially characterised using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and gas chromatography (GC) to identify the presence and concentrations of THMs, respectively. Prior to the experiment, PES membrane was soaked overnight with deionised water before being used to remove the particles attached on the membrane surface during their packaging and transportation. The concentration of THMs in the feed was determined and the effects of solution chemistry were studied to investigate the removal efficiency of the THMs by PES membranes. The operating pressure was kept constant at 1 bar and the homogeneity of the feed solution was achieved with a constant stirring at 400 rpm. FTIR was used to analyse the THM removal through IR spectrum result. The study showed that the effect of pH somehow gave significantly acceptable results on the THM removal. The chloroform functional group was found at peak 771.71 cm–1 with highest concentration about 1750 μg l–1. At neutral and alkaline conditions, no chloroform peak was detected, whereas in acidic solution, the peak was identified at 717.22 cm–1.
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