Synthesis of zirconia-ceramic composite membrane employing a low-cost precursor and evaluation its performance for separation of microbially produced silver nanoparticles

• Published in: Journal of environmental chemical engineering 2022-06, Vol.10 (3), p.107569, Article 107569
• Main Authors: Kumar, Mohit, Pugazhenthi, G., Vasanth, D.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ceramic membrane; Characterization; Rejection; Separation; Silver nanoparticles
• ISSN: 2213-3437; 2213-3437
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jece.2022.107569

In this research, the isolated bacterium Kocuria rhizophila BR-1 was used to produce extracellular silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), which were separated by dead-end filtration method. Using electron microscopy (SEM) and particle size distribution (PSD) analysis, the synthesised AgNPs were observed to be spherical, with an average size of 48.23 nm and particle size ranging between 20 and 200 nm. The ceramic membrane support was made with low-cost precursors and coated with zirconia nanoparticles via spray pyrolysis. X-ray diffraction (XRD), surface area, contact angle, electron microscopy, particle size distribution, porosity, clean water permeability and average pore size was conducted to characterise the composite membrane (CM). The specific surface area, pore volume, and pore size distribution of the prepared zirconia particles were measured to be 22.04 m2/g, 0.083 cm3/g, and 10.9 nm, respectively. The permeability, porosity, and pore size of membrane were 1.08 × 10−7 L/m2hPa, 30% and 100 nm, respectively. Using a coated membrane and a dead-end filtration, the AgNPs were separated from their aqueous solution at distinct pressures (69–345 kPa) and solute concentrations (0.3 g/L and 0.15 g/L). The permeate flow and AgNPs rejection, at 345 kPa transmembrane pressure and 0.3 g/L feed concentration, was found to be around 32.3 L/m2h and 45%, respectively. Our findings suggest that the ceramic membrane can be used to concentrate different metallic nanoparticles from its broth. [Display omitted] •Low cost support was coated with zirconia particles using spray pyrolysis technique.•AgNPs were synthesized using isolated novel bacterium Kocuria rhizophila BR-1.•The silver nanoparticles were recovered from its aqueous solution by ultrafiltration.•The membrane showed 45% of AgNPs rejection with permeate flux of 32.3 L/m2h.