Treatment of produced water using a chitosan/TiO₂ mixed matrix membrane derived from shrimp shells

Today, water pollution and the shortage of freshwater resources are among the most urgent global issues. As a result, researchers have paid close attention to methods for purifying and improving the reuse of industrial wastewater. In this study, a natural polymer membrane made from chitosan, which is derived from shrimp shells, was used to treat produced water. To improve the performance of chitosan membranes, a mixed matrix membrane composed of chitosan and TiO₂ nanoparticles (used as the filler) was synthesized, and its effectiveness in treating produced water was tested under different operational conditions. The embedding of TiO₂ NPs in the chitosan matrix improved the pure water flux and flux recovery ratio by about 106.6% and 87.6%, respectively. The performance of the developed mixed matrix membrane (3 M) was examined by analyzing the effects of pressure, initial pollutant concentration (COD), and volumetric flow rate using a central composite design. Results showed that the 3 M membrane, under optimal conditions (operation pressure: 3.86 bar, initial COD concentration: 1975.1 mg/L, and volumetric flow rate: 157.98 ml/min), can reduce COD, TDS, and TSS of inlet wastewater by 90.05%, 86%, and 84%, respectively. Testing the membrane over 10 consecutive cycles revealed a 22% decline in wastewater treatment efficiency after 10 cycles.