New synthesis polyvinyl chloride- graft- acrylamide membrane for wastewater treatment

In this study, dehydrochlorination of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) was performed with alkaline solution in different molarity (1.0, 3.0, 5.0 M) then the acrylamide (AM) monomer grafted onto pure PVC and dehydrochlorinated PVC (DHPVC) backbone by free-radical graft copolymerization. Membranes from polyvinyl chloride and polyvinyl chloride –graft–acrylamide were prepared via a phase inversion method. The success of AM grafting onto PVC was investigated by CHN elemental analysis, DSC, TGA and DTGA analysis. The membranes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis, pore size, porosity and contact angle measurements. The CHN data showed that the PVC-g-AM displayed various nitrogen percent, proved grafting of the AM on PVC, also DSC, TGA and DTGA curves shows changing in thermal behavior among pure PVC, DHPVC, and PVC-g-AM. All the new synthesis grafting membranes shows excellent hydrophilicity and antifouling performance confirmed by higher pure water flux and simulated wastewater rejection. The grafted membrane with 3 molarity exhibited the highest pure water permeate flux was about 230 L/m2 h at 28 °C of feed temperature and 1bar of pressure, i.e. was improved by about 115 times compared to the unmodified PVC membrane.