Crosslinked integrally skinned asymmetric composite membranes for dye rejection

Integrally skinned composite membrane has been fabricated by employing Carboxy methyl cellulose sodium salt (CMC-Na) crosslinked by AlCl₃ and incorporated with zeolite 4A as filler coated on functionalized substrate. The separation factor of the fabricated membranes was determined for the rejection of methylene blue and Evans blue dyes. Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR) results verified the crosslinking between CMC-Na and AlCl₃ along with the hydrogen bonding among the components of composite membrane. Atomic force microscope (AFM), scanning electron microscope (SEM) was carried out for the determination and elucidation of roughness and morphology of the fabricated composite membrane. The AFM and SEM results showed the increased surface roughness with the porous and spongy like structure. The result showed a high dye selectivity of 99.9% and 98.8% for Evans blue and Methylene blue, respectively with 10 wt% zeolite content.