Binary metal oxides incorporated polyethersulfone ultrafiltration mixed matrix membranes for the pretreatment of seawater desalination

In this study, an attempt was made to pretreat seawater using polyethersulfone (PES) mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) incorporated with titania‐based binary metal oxides. Two different titania‐based binary metal oxides were prepared, namely titania‐zirconia (TiZr) and titania‐zinc oxide (TiZn). The influence of hydrophilic and negatively charged sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) polymer as additive of PES MMMs was also studied. Morphological and elemental analysis revealed that both ZrO2 and ZnO were well dispersed in the as‐prepared binary metal oxide TiZr and TiZn, respectively.. Thermogravimetry analysis indicated the good compatibility of TiZr and TiZn with the SPEEK/PES polymer. The binary metal oxide incorporated SPEEK/PES MMMs exhibited improved hydrophilic properties with a low water contact angle of 57° ± (0.6). SPEEK/PES MMMs incorporated with 0.5 wt% TiZr exhibited the highest permeability of 3.11 × 10−7 ± (0.2) m/s·kPa. Seawater pretreatment performance of membranes evaluated using natural organic matters containing high salinity feed water. TiZr and TiZn incorporated SPEEK/PES MMMs exhibited 95% rejection for humic acid. SPEEK/PES MMMs loaded with 0.5 wt% TiZr also showed the highest water flux and 87% water recovery within 90 min of seawater filtration. Both PES/SPEEK/TiZr and PES/SPEEK/TiZn MMMs exhibited superior antibacterial activity.