Salah F. Abdellah Ali

Membranes fouling and their degradation using free chlorine are the most common challenges in the desalination process. A blend nano-composite polysulfone /polyaniline were prepared as a substrate for the active polyamide layer. In this work, nano polyaniline emeraldine salt was prepared using a simple chemical oxidative polymerization method. It was added to the polysulfone (PS) substrate layer in the presence of sodium lauryl sulfate as a hydrophilic agent to enhance reverse osmosis properties of the thin film composite membrane. Unmodified and modified polyaniline nano-particles membranes were characterized using XRD, EDX, FT-IR, SEM, particle size distribution and contact angle. The membranes performance was evaluated in terms of water flux and salt rejection using a cross-flow filtration unit. The results showed that the nano-composite membrane had much better water permeability (66 L/m²/h) compared to the control membrane (57 L/m² /h) without significant change in the percentage of salt rejection. The resistance of membranes to bio-fouling and chlorine degradation was evaluated using bovine serum albumin (BSA) as fouling model and sodium hypochlorite, respectively. The modified membrane was more resistant to bio-fouling and chlorine attack because of the strong electrostatic repulsion between poly-aniline PANI and BSA. The prepared polysulfone -polyaniline nano-composite substrate has been enhanced the performance of thin film composite as a reverse osmosis membrane.

This work is aiming at investigating the preparation and characterization of n-butyl acrylate (BA) to be used in oil spill removing applications. N-Butyl Acrylate was prepared by solution polymerization taking into account the effect of monomer concentration, polymerization time, initiator concentration, cross-linker concentration and polymerization temperature on the yield of n- butyl acrylate to optimize the polymerization conditions. Thermal analysis has been done using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) in the range of 25oC to 600oC and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) in the range of 35oC to 400oC. The results showed that n- butyl acrylate is thermally stable to satisfy the requirements of oil spill cleanup applications. The chemical structure of n- butyl acrylate was confirmed using Fourier Transform Infrared analysis (FTIR). The morphology of n- butyl acrylate that controls its ability to absorb oil spills was observed using scanning electron microscope (SEM). It was found that n-butyl acrylate has the ability to absorb gasoline, kerosene, diesel, xylene, octanol and Mobil oil. Sorption capacity of the polymer in dry system, static system and dynamic system in addition to its reusability of sorbent several times were studied.

Investigation of dielectric properties of polymer composites reinforced