Copyright © 2014 M. Berradi, A. El Harfi. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. International Journal of Advanced Chemistry, 2 (2) (2014) 62-65 International Journal of Advanced Chemistry Journal home page: www.sciencepubco.com/index.php/IJAC doi: 10.14419/ijac.v2i2.2028 Research Paper Purification of the textile finishing effluents by the ultrafiltration technique M. Berradi *, A. El Harfi Laboratory of Polymers, Radiation and Environment (LPRE), Team of Organic Chemistry & Macromolecular (TOCM), Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences. Ibn Tofail University, Kenitra 14000 Morocco-BP133 *Corresponding author E-mail: mberradi24@gmail.com Abstract In the present paper, we synthesized, at first, an new permeable organic membrane based on a mixture of different percentages of pol- ysulfone (PSU), 4,4-sulfoxylphenol S, expanded polystyrene in a solvent that is N, N-dimethylformamide (DMF), and at the end, we treated the liquid effluents from the textile finishing industry by this membrane. The latter was characterized at the first step by the hy- drodynamic conditions of the ultrafiltration technique and in a second step by microscopic tools. The achieved results concerning the microscopic characterization of the synthesized membrane show that the chemical structure of the membrane is composed of three previ- ous components (PSU/BS/PSe), but those related to wastewater treatment show that the rate of discoloration measured for the wastewater charged with indigo is the order of 87.24% and measured for the black sulphur is the order of 64.04%. Keywords: Permeable Organic Membrane, Ultrafiltration, Hydrodynamic and Microscopic Characterization. 1. Introduction In recent years, the technology of organic membranes has experi- enced significant progress in the fabrication of microfiltration; ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis membrane and others (Venugopal et al., 2012, p.37) have been used in various industrial processes such as the purification of industrial wastewater, desalination of sea water (Allali Hassani et al., 1990, p.699), (Plattes et al., 2007, p. 613), the recovery of acid and dehydration of organic solvents, etc. The exploitation of these membranes varies from one hand, following the industrial process monitoring and the nature of the effluent discharged by this method (Shimekit et al., 2009, p.115) and on the other hand, according to the mechanical and chemical properties of membranes used (Benavente et al., 2000, p.43), (Buzatu et al., 2012, p. 421), and (Solaymani et al., 2012, p.217). The objective of the present work in the first step is to synthesize a new organic membrane based on a mixture of the Polysulfone (PSU)/Bisphenol S (BS)/Expanded Polystyrene (PSe), and in the second step is to apply the membrane obtained in the technique of Ultrafiltration (UF) to treat effluents loaded with vat dyes (Indigo and Black sulphur) rejected in an operating processes of dyeing and finishing fiber cotton, which are intended for the manufacture of Denim factories and also to decrease relatively this type of waste. 2. Materials and methods The obtained membrane was synthesized by mixing together in mass polysulfone 13.5%, polystyrene 1%, 4, 4-sulfoxyldiphenol 0.5%, N; N-dimethylformamide (DMF) 85%, including their chemical structures (Fig. 1 and Fig. 2). The prepared mixture was allowed to stir (using a magnetic stirrer) at a speed of 580 tr / min for 45 min in a normal temperature and pressure. The collodion obtained was spread on a glass plate using a glass rod. This plate was immediately immersed in a water bath to obtain an asymmet- ric membrane type phase inversion (Mulder et al., 1996) (Tsai et al., 2006, p. 390). After the optimization of the collodion and obtaining a semi- permeable membrane, the latter was characterized respectively by the microscopic properties (Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)) and morphological: Elec- tron Microscopy (SEM), and then according to the hydrodynamic properties (permeability and selectivity) by the ultrafiltration tech- nique using distilled water as a permeate water at first and then as a rejected model. C CH 3 CH 3 O S O O O n (a) S HO O O OH (b) Fig. 1: Chemical structures of polysulfone (PSU) (a) and 4.4- sul- foxyldiphénol S (b).