Photocatalytic nanohybrid UV-light-driven PVDF/GO-NiFe@SiO2 membrane coupled with bentonite adsorption and ozonation process for a sustainable textile wastewater treatment

• Published in: Process safety and environmental protection 2024-10, Vol.190, p.438-457
• Main Authors: Kusworo, Tutuk Djoko, Purwanto, Purwanto, Jos, Bakti, Budiyono, Budiyono, Astuti, Dewi Atika Puji, Inamullah, Achmad Maulana Arsyad, Dalanta, Febio
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Advanced oxidation process; Dye removal; Environmental hazard mitigation; Photo-filtration process; Photocatalytic materials
• ISSN: 0957-5820
• DOI: 10.1016/j.psep.2024.08.048

The textile industries face significant environmental challenges due to the presence of complex pollutant dyes in its wastewater, making it one of the world's major sources of industrial water pollution. Numerous studies have been employed to overcome this problem, including physical, chemical, and biological treatments. However, most of those methods still suffered to achieve higher dye removal performance. This study provides new insight regarding textile wastewater treatment containing indigo red as the main colorant by carrying out a hybrid process combining bentonite adsorption, ozonation, and photocatalytic membrane filtration. For the membrane, we propose a modified polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane incorporated with graphene oxide (GO) and nickel-iron doped silica (NiFe@SiO2) photocatalyst, which is named PVDF/GO-NiFe@SiO2 membrane. The membrane was employed under different sets of filtrations (dark and under ultraviolet irradiation) to treat natural dye wastewater from textile industry effluent. Further improvement was achieved when UV light irradiation was subjected to the process. This sequential adsorption-ozonation-membrane process under UV exposure exhibited improved dye removal from 55.11 % to 97.22 %. The results show that the proposed hybrid process successfully improved the membranes' antifouling behavior, thus boosting the membranes' performance and durability. From a broader perspective, our work promotes new insights for the integration of other physical, chemical, and biological treatment methods to improve the performance and durability of membrane-based processes, particularly for dye wastewater treatment. [Display omitted] •A combined adsorption, ozonation, and photocatalytic membrane process was developed.•Adsorption and ozonation were helpful in reducing heavy pollutant load.•Photocatalytic membrane filtration performed using PVDF/GO-NiFe@SiO2.•The hybrid process achieved the best performance and antifouling properties.•This proposed method is promising for other dye-related wastewater treatment.