MEMBRANE ANTIBIOFILM SYNTHESIS BY MODIFICATION USING GRAPHENE OXIDE AND COPPER NANOCOMPOSITE

• Main Author: Western
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/48307
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Biofouling is one of the major issues in reverse osmosis (RO) desalination process. This problem can be mitigated by modifying the membrane with nanocomposites. One of the nanocomposites used is graphene oxide and copper (GOCu) which exhibits antibacterial and antibiofilm activity. Therefore, this study was conducted to synthesize antibiofilm membrane with GOCu nanocomposites. GOCu has successfully been synthesized by reducing graphene oxide (GO) and copper mixture with NaBH4 and further analyzed by Raman Spectroscopy. Raman Spectroscopy showed differences of GO reduction level among the variation of copper acetate added. The best antibacterial and antimicrobial activity was achieved by GOCu with 140 mg GO with 5 mmoles Cu, obtained by microtiter plate assay on Pseudomonas aeruginosa ITBCCB140. It is also found that the saturation concentration of GOCu is at 100 mg/L. Membrane modification was done with 200, 300, and 400 mg/L GOCu. Contact angle measurment showed that membrane modification did not change the hidrophobicity of pristine membrane. SEM-EDS also showed copper on membrane but unfortunately the GOCu piled and blocked salt water from penetrating the modified membrane, as shown in the flux measurement. This pile up phenomena also affected the antibacterial and antibiofilm activity of the modified membrane. By using microtiter plate assay, it was found that the more GOCu is added, the less antibacterial and antibiofilm observed. It was also found that modified membrane with the best antibiofilm and antimicrobial activity membrane was modification with GOCu5 (200 mg/L). From contact angle test, it was also found that the hydrophobicity of membrane was not significantly changed.