Performance Evaluation of Expanded Polystyrene Waste Membranes Modified with Green-Synthesized Fe3O4 Nanoparticles for Microalgae Separation in Water Treatment

Mahmuda, Diah; Firmansyah, Doni; Salim, Urip Agus; Arifvianto, Budi; Sriani, Tutik; Prihandana, Gunawan Setia; Mahardika, Muslim

doi:10.22104/aet.2026.8094.2275

Performance Evaluation of Expanded Polystyrene Waste Membranes Modified with Green-Synthesized Fe3O4 Nanoparticles for Microalgae Separation in Water Treatment

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Diah Mahmuda ¹

Doni Firmansyah ¹

Urip Agus Salim ¹

Budi Arifvianto ¹

Tutik Sriani ²

Gunawan Setia Prihandana ³

Muslim Mahardika ¹

¹ Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Jalan Grafika 2, Yogyakarta 55281, Indonesia

² Department of Research and Development, P.T. Global Meditek Utama-IITOYA, Sardonoharjo, Ngaglik, Sleman, Yogyakarta 55581, Indonesia

³ Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Advanced Technology and Multidiscipline, Universitas Airlangga, Jalan Dr. Ir. H. Soekarno, Surabaya 60115, Indonesia

10.22104/aet.2026.8094.2275

Abstract

The valorization of expanded polystyrene (EPS) waste into functional membranes offers a potential approach for integrating plastic waste recovery with water treatment applications. This study investigated EPS membranes incorporating Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles synthesized using Moringa oleifera leaf extract. Membranes containing 0–0.9 wt.% Fe₃O₄ were fabricated through nonsolvent-induced phase separation (NIPS) and evaluated in terms of morphology, thickness, porosity, surface wettability, mechanical properties, and filtration performance. The incorporation of 0.5 wt.% Fe₃O₄ reduced the water contact angle from 102.8° to 75.8° and increased pure water flux from 60.45 to 67.44 L.m-2.h-1, corresponding to an improvement of 11.56%. Membrane porosity increased with nanoparticle loading, whereas the highest water flux was obtained at 0.5 wt.%, indicating that water transport was influenced by both structural characteristics and surface wettability. Tensile strength increased from approximately 0.5 to 1.2 MPa at 0.9 wt.% Fe₃O₄. All membrane formulations were maintained Chlorella vulgaris rejection above 99% based on turbidity measurements. These findings demonstrate the potential of MO-assisted Fe₃O₄ incorporation for improving the water transport and mechanical properties of waste-derived EPS membranes while maintaining high microalgae rejection under laboratory-scale conditions.

Keywords

Green-Fe3O4

Moringa oleifera

EPS waste

upcycled membrane

microalgae separation

Subjects