(398bd) Development of Yttrium Nanoparticle/PVA Modified Psf Membrane and Application in Decontamination of Arsenate from Waters

In this study, a novel yttrium nanoparticle/PVA modified PSF membrane was developed for arsenate removal from contaminated waters. The porous PSF membrane as a supporting media was first fabricated by a phase inversion method with hydrophilic PAA polymer as a pore-forming additive. The porous PSF membrane was then coated by a PVA thin layer on the surface, and finally loaded by yttrium nanoparticle (YNP) through an in-situ precipitation method using ammonia vapor. The coating of PVA and YNP on the membrane surface can effectively affect the membrane porosity and water flux. Spherical YNP was uniformly distributed on the surface and matrix of membrane, leading to an excellent adsorption ability and extremely rapid adsorption kinetics to the membrane. The adsorption isothermal data were better done by the Langmuir than the Freundlich equation. The maximum adsorption capacity of 35.04 mg-As/g was achieved at pH 7.0. The adsorption performance of the membrane had no obvious difference in the pH range of 4.0-8.0 and reached the optimal value at pH 5.0. About 74% of ultimate adsorption capacity was achieved in the first 30 min. The adsorption kinetics followed the pseudo-second-order and intraparticle diffusion models. The filtration studies at the initial arsenate concentration of 94.8 μg/L showed that the treatment capacities of the composite membrane at pH 7.0 and 5.0 were 278 and 637 L/m², respectively. The XPS analysis indicated that ligand exchange between hydroxyl groups bonded to yttrium atoms and arsenate could be proposed as the main adsorption mechanism.