Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers 65 (2016) 405–419 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jtice Preparation and characterization of PES-cobalt nanocomposite membranes with enhanced anti-fouling properties and performances Lassaad Gzara a,∗∗ , Zulfiqar Ahmad Rehan a,b , Sher Bahadar Khan b,c,∗ , Khalid A. Alamry b , Mohammad H. Albeirutty a , M.S. El-Shahawi b , Muhammad Imtiaz Rashid e , Alberto Figoli d , Enrico Drioli a,d , Abdullah M. Asiri b,c a Center of Excellence in Desalination Technology, King Abdulaziz University, P. O. Box 80200, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia b Department of chemistry, faculty of science King Abdulaziz University, P. O. Box 80203, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia c Center of Excellence for Advanced Materials Research (CEAMR), King Abdulaziz University, PO Box 80203, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia d Institute on Membrane Technology (ITM-CNR), c/o University of Calabria, Via P. Bucci 17/C, 87030 Rende, (CS), Italy e Center of Excellence in Environmental Studies, King Abdulaziz University, P.O Box 80216, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 26 October 2015 Revised 24 March 2016 Accepted 9 April 2016 Available online 24 May 2016 Keywords: Polyethersulfone (PES) Membrane preparation Nanocomposite Cobalt nanoparticles Phase inversion Antibacterial activity a b s t r a c t Fouling and biofouling are still the challenging issues of membrane application in water industry. One of the practical approaches to control these limits is to develop anti-biofouling membranes. For this rea- son, novel polymeric membranes loaded with cobalt nanoparticles were produced for evaluating their properties against biofouling. Cobalt nanoparticles (CoNP) were synthesized by the reduction of Co +2 in aqueous solution using 4-aminophenol as reducing agent and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide CTAB as capping agent. The nanocomposite membranes of polyethersulfone-cobalt nanoparticles (PES-CoNP) were prepared by non-solvent induced phase inversion process (NIPS) using N-methyl-pyrrolidone (NMP) as solvent, PVP in different concentration, as pore forming and dispersing agent (of the cobalt nanoparti- cles) and pure water as non-solvent. The effect of nanoparticles concentration in membrane formation as well as the changes in the morphological and physical chemical properties of the produced membranes was studied, too. The nanocomposite membranes were systematically characterized using, Fourier Trans- form infrared spectrophotometer (FTIR) X-ray diffraction (XRD), Thermal gravity analysis (TGA), contact angle, zeta potential, porosity, pore size distribution, Atomic Force microscopy (AFM), Field emission scan- ning electron microscope (FESEM), water permeability, membrane performances in seawater and urban wastewater, antibacterial activity and mechanical properties. The PES-cobalt nanocomposite membranes exhibited good antibacterial activity as well as improved anti-biofouling properties. Overall, the results suggest, the functionalization of PES membranes by loading CoNP could be a viable solution to be ap- plied in water treatment without compromise the performances of the pristine PES membranes. © 2016 Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The membrane processes are becoming the most cost-effective, energy-efficient, high output and compact technology to struggle the global issues linked with scarcity of fresh and clean water. Currently, membrane operations such as micro-filtration, ultra- filtration, nano-filtration and reverse osmosis found application in a broad range of fields as in wastewater treatment [1], water ∗ Corresponding author at: Department of chemistry, faculty of science King Abdulaziz University, P. O. Box 80203, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia. Tel.: +966 593709796. E-mail addresses: lassaadgzara@gmail.com (L. Gzara), sbkhan@kau.edu.sa (S.B. Khan). ∗∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +966544654661. recycling in aerospace [2], potable water production [3], and seawater desalination [4], pharmaceutical and biological, food industries [5]. As result of this increasing demand, it is significant to improve the performance of the membranes processes. Generally, efforts involve process condition optimization, pretreatment of feed wa- ter and progressive membrane and module design. However, the membrane has its own significance in many of the cases studied [6]. Polyethersulfone (PES) is the most used polymer in membrane separation due to good physico-chemical properties, heat-aging re- sistance processing. The PES polymer resistant to various alkalis and acids and is compatible with biological constituents including blood. These properties make PES as a promising material for mi- crofiltration [7] ultrafiltration [8] and nanofiltration [9]. Conversely, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtice.2016.04.012 1876-1070/© 2016 Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.