The Development of Mixed Matrix Membrane Purolite for Removing Mercury (II) Ion in Contaminated Water

This paper presents adsorption of mercury (Hg2+) ions in contaminated water using mixed matrix membrane. The Mixed matrix membrane adsorption has been prepared based on chitosan and purolite adsorbents with composition of 3% chitosan (w/v), 15% (v/v) DMF and 60% purolite loading. The adsorptive membrane has asymetrix structure with porosity 43.95%, swelling degree 74.4% and clean water fluxes 254.4 L/m2h. Mercury ions removal from aqueous solution has been observed with excellent behavior in aqueos solution with adsorption capacity reached 5.516 mg/g membrane. The adjustment of equilibrium data to isotherm models showed that mercury ions adsorption on mixed matric membrane is follow Langmuir isotherm model. The mixed matrix membrane can be reused by regeneration of the adsorbed membrane with NaC1 1 M without significant loss of the adsorption capacity. The mixed matrix membrane has applied to well water contaminated with mercury which can reduce mercury levels in the sample to below of detection limit of AAS spectrophotometer. The mixed matrix membrane can be an alternative method to remove the ion Hg2+ in contaminated water