In this study, silica sodalite (SSOD) was prepared via topotactic conversion and different
silica sodalite loadings were infused into the polysulfone (PSF) for application in phenol-containing
water treatment. The composite membranes were fabricated through the phase inversion technique.
Physicochemical characteristics of the nanoparticles and membranes were checked using a Scanning
Electron Microscope (SEM), Brunauer Emmett–Teller (BET), and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR)
for surface morphology, textural properties, and surface chemistry, respectively. A nanotensile test,
Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), and contact angle measurement were used to check the mechanical
properties, surface roughness, and hydrophilicity of the membranes, respectively. SEM results
revealed that the pure polysulfone surface is highly porous with large evident pores. However, the
pores decreased with increasing SSOD loading. The performance of the fabricated membranes was
evaluated using a dead-end filtration device at varying feed pressure during phenol-containing water
treatment. The concentration of phenol in water used in this study was 20 mg/L. The pure PSF
displayed the maximum phenol rejection of 95 55% at 4 bar, compared to the composite membranes
having 61.35% and 64.75% phenol rejection for 5 wt.% SSOD loading and 10 wt.% SSOD loading,
respectively. In this study, a novel Psf-infused SSOD membrane was successfully fabricated for the
treatment of synthetic phenol-containing water to alleviate the challenges associated with it.https://www.mdpi.com/journal/membranesam2023Chemical Engineerin