Title
Elaboration and characterization of cellulosic membranes for efficient molybdenum removal
Authors
FAIROUZ SAAD SAOUD, OMAR AROUS, MOURAD AMARA, ZOHRA GHEBACHE, SOFIANE BENSADI and YASSINE BERBAR

Received March 15, 2025
Published Volume 59 Issue 7-8 July-August
Keywords molybdenum, cellulose triacetate, carrier, plasticizer, water purification

Abstract
In this work, a novel class of polymeric inclusion membranes (PIMs) for ion separation was developed. All synthesized membranes were composed of cellulose triacetate (CTA) modified by trioctyle phosphine oxide (TOPO), tributyle phosphate (TBP) or tricapryle ammonium (Aliquat-336) incorporated into the polymer as carrier and tris-(2-ethylhexyl) (TEHP) or 2-nitrophenyle octyle ether (NPOE) as plasticizer. The synthesized PIMs were characterized using various techniques, including Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The influence of the membrane nature was studied using supports with different physical characteristics (porosity, thickness, hydrophobicity). All synthesized membranes were applied to molybdenum recovery using this innovative process, supporting the determination of transfer fluxes and permeability factors. The transport flux and its efficiency depend on the chemical nature of the plasticizer. It was established that TEHP (viscosity η = 10.2 mPa.s, permittivity ɛr = 4.8) and NPOE (viscosity η = 16.9 mPa.s, permittivity ɛr = 24.2) produced the highest PIM transport of ions.