Isolated iron/polyether sulfone catalytic membranes for rapid phenol removal

Phenolic waster has a pervasive problem afflicting people throughout the word due to negative impacts for ecosystems and humans. Herein, isolated iron/polyethersulfone (4A-Fe/PES) mixed-matrix membrane as a catalytic non-permselective membrane reactor is developed for rapid reduction of phenol in continuous flow-through reaction. The forced flow of the reactants through the membrane intensifies the contact between reactants and immobilized catalysts, allowing for high catalytic activity with negligible mass transport resistances. In the presence of H 2 O 2 , the 4A-Fe/PES catalytic membrane can remove 99.9 ± 1.6% phenol after 6 min at pH 2 with a catalyst/phenol mass ratio of 1/3. The catalytic membranes show much higher performances than 4A-Fe particles even under neutral or alkaline conditions. In particular, at pH 9, the catalytic membrane exhibits a phenol degradation rate of 92.5 ± 3.4% after 12 h. This strategy provides guidance to the design of high-performance catalytic membranes for efficient removal of phenolic pollutants.