International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 5, Issue 9, September 2015 1 ISSN 2250-3153 www.ijsrp.org Flat Sheet Membrane Using Silica from Sugarcane Bagasse as Additive: Effect of Morphology Hamizah Mokhtar * , Ramlah Mohd Tajuddin ** * Institute for Infrastructure Engineering and Sustainable Management (IIESM), Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia ** Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia Abstract- The work describes is primarily concerned with the fabrication and testing of flat sheet membrane. The aim of this research is to investigate the morphology of flat sheet membrane that uses silica from sugarcane bagasse as an additive. Six flat sheet membranes were then fabricated by varying the dope formulation. Membrane surface and cross-section area were analyse by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The analysis of SEM shows that the addition of silica from sugarcane bagasse changed the surface structure of the membrane especially at top layer and sub layer. The performance of flat sheet membrane were determine based on flux of pure water permeate, rejection sodium chloride solution and molecular weight cut off. The results indicate that the addition of 3% of silica give the best rejection and highest flux where successfully do rejection of 75.35 % and 42.65 L/m2hr water flux. The molecular weight cut off results shows that the membrane having solute rejection beyond 70% and categorized on their nominal molecular weight cut off. Index Terms- Additive, Flat sheet, Membrane, Morphology, Sugarcane bagasse I. INTRODUCTION Embrane has gained an important place in chemical technology and are used in a wide range of applications. Technologies of membrane has become a better solution in the process of water purification, component of important procedure and apparatus in most medical sector, food industry, cosmetic industry and other industries. Nowadays, modifications of materials used in the formulation of membrane via phase inversion and processing parameters that involve in the preparation have been intensively studied [1]. The thermodynamic and kinetics properties of the membrane during the formulation process may alter the membrane structure and performance. One method that commonly used to improve the performance of membrane is addition of additive into membrane formulation. Study by [2, 3] stated that small quantity of additive being added into the formulation may cause significant changes to the characteristics of membrane. Previous study by [4] used glycerol as organic additive for blended polymer of polyvinyl alcohol and polyethylene glycol stated that the additive may acts as anti-fouling mechanism. The presence of the glycerol on the top layer of thin film composite membrane had increased the hydrophilicity of the membrane’s surface [4]. Other studies by [5], found that by addition of SiO 2 in the membrane formulation will enhances fouling resistance ability, molecular weight cut off, pore radius, pore density, and surface porosity of the membrane. However, different types of silica produce different effects on membrane properties. Therefore in this study, silica extracted from sugarcane bagasse was used as an additive for flat sheet membrane fabrication. II. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES A. Extraction of Silica Sugarcane bagasse will be collected from nearby plantation. The sugarcane bagasse samples were undergoes hydrolysis, refluxing, precipitation and washing process to extract the pure silica. Silica was used as an additive in membrane preparation. B. Preparation of flat sheet Membrane The PSf were dried by temperature 50 o C for 24h before use in casting formulation. Then, casting formulations were prepared by dissolving the ratio between Psf: DMAc: PVP: Silica. The six dope composition formulae for membrane formulation involve constants amount of Psf, 21% and DMaC, 71%. The PVP: Silica ratio is 7:1, 6:2, 5:3, 4:4, 3:5 and 2:6 respectively. Psf was added into the vessel containing the solvent DMAc and stirred continuously by using a magnetic stirrer to make sure the polymer is well mixed. This procedure was repeated until all the required amount of polymer is added. This process was controlled at desired range 60 o C temperature and 400 rpm speed. The solution was stirred until it become homogeneous. Next, the additive, PVP was added in the solution and followed by additive silica from sugarcane bagasse. Then, the mixing process was continued until a homogeneous solution is obtained. After that, the dope solution was poured and cooled in a clean one liter storage glass bottle. The above steps is surface treatment of membrane fabrication process which involved evaporating the solvent on the membrane surface by allowing air being sucking out of the air hood. Later on, the dope solution undergo coagulation steps where the membrane sheets were immersed into appropriate liquid at appropriate temperature so that the membrane will harden and detach from the casting plate. The dope solution was cast using casting knife with range thickness 100-125 μm and immersed into coagulation bath containing distilled water under room temperature. The flat sheet membrane was air-dried for 24 hour at room temperature (27ºC). Finally, the membranes then were cut in ring shape about 6 cm diameters before placed in the cell. C. Membrane Analysis M