Abstract Polyethersulfone (PES) ultrafiltration (UF) membranes were modified with starch and varying concentrations of poly (methacrylic acid) (PMA) and integrated with a granular multimedia (GM) filtration system to evaluate their performance in slaughterhouse wastewater treatment for reuse. Increasing PMA loading (0.5–3 wt%) resulted in smoother, more hydrophilic membranes, with an average surface roughness decreasing from 363 to 66 nm and contact angle decreasing from 69.2 ± 3.6 to 63.4 ± 3.1˚. Although porosity (75.8 ± 6.5%–63.8 ± 4.7%) and water uptake (79.3 ± 1.2%–69.8 ± 3.2%) slightly declined, antifouling and reusability improved markedly, maintaining flux recovery ratios above 90% after 1 cycle and above 80% after 5 cycles. The addition of starch and PMA decreased the pure water flux (133.3–40.7 Lm −2 h −1 ) at 1 bar, and this correlated with a reduction in pore size from 0.021 ± 9.0 × 10 –4 to 0.012 ± 1.1 × 10 –5 µm. The GM pre-filtration achieved up to 95.9 ± 1.8% turbidity reduction, 23.6 ± 0.01% total organic content (TOC) reduction, and 80.9 ± 0.4% chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction, significantly alleviating membrane fouling. The combined GM-UF system achieved removals of 99.6 ± 0.9% TOC, 91.8 ± 0.2% COD, and 100% turbidity, fats, oils, and greases, producing effluent compliant with South African non-potable water reuse standards. These findings demonstrate the synergistic benefits of starch and PMA incorporation in enhancing membrane antifouling performance and the overall efficiency of the hybrid GM-UF system for sustainable onsite slaughterhouse wastewater reuse.
Mudau et al. (Wed,) studied this question.