Development of Cu-BTC (MOF) Based Membrane on Red-Mud Support: Fabrication, Characterization & Application

Abstract

Cu-BTC metal organic framework (MOF) was successfully synthesized by atmospheric synthesis technique and characterized before membrane fabrication studies. In post synthesis treatments the role of solvents were observed to be vital for increasing product stability and removing impurities. MOF based membrane was successfully fabricated using Cu-BTC and detailed characterization was performed accordingly. Surface modification using boehmite was found to be effective for uniform growth of Cu-BTC onto it. Dip coating technique was used for the uniform growth of MOF onto clay support. Adsorption studies of different dyes was successfully carried with Cu-BTC. Due to high surface area and good adsorption property it achieved 98% adsorption of Bismarck brown dye and 95% adsorption of methylene blue dye. Three different membranes were successfully fabricated: Membrane A, Membrane B and Membrane C. hydraulic permeability studies were carried with the distilled water and separation studies of all the three membranes were carried with the dye. It achieved a separation of about 75%, 76% and 73% after 4 cycles of operations via red-mud based membranes of A, B and C respectively. On the other hand, Cu-BTC coated membranes of the same achieved almost 83%, 99% and 82% separations. The enhancement in the separation efficiency was clearly observed after the impregnation of Cu-BTC layer over the fabricated membranes.