Novel polyethersulfone-cellulose composite thin film using sustainable empty fruit bunches from Elaeis guineensis for methylene blue removal

The consumption of the polymeric membrane is increased over the years due to the high demand from the industries. This work attempts to evaluate the performance of polyethersulfone (PES) membrane incorporated with cellulose nanofibrils (CNF), which can be extracted from empty fruit bunches generated from palm oil mills. PES/CNF/polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) blend membranes were fabricated using phase inversion method under the following conditions: 16 to 24 wt% PES, 0.2 to 1.2 wt% CNF and 0.3 to 1.0 wt% PVP. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was employed to optimize the composition of this composite membrane. 80.9 L/m2.hr permeate flux and 62.3% MB rejection were obtained at a composition of 18.0202 wt% PES, 0.2000 wt% CNF, and 0.4980 wt% PVP. ANOVA for the models showed that the Prob.>F values for permeate flux and MB rejection were 0.0011 and 0.001, which indicated the significant effect of CNF on the performance of the PES composite membrane. •Waste biomass from agricultural activities for other applications.•Cellulose nanofibrils can be extracted from oil palm empty fruit bunches.•Cellulose nanofibrils can be incorporated into the polyethersulfone membrane.•Permeate flux and dye removal of the composite membrane were optimized.