Selective separation of phenol from salicylic acid effluent over molecularly imprinted polystyrene nanospheres composite alumina membranes

Novel molecularly imprinted polystyrene nanospheres composite alumina membranes (MIPS/CAM) were prepared by modifying the alumina membranes with MIPS nanospheres via microemulsion polymerization method. The as-prepared MIPS/CAM were characterized by Raman spectra, SEM, and UV-vis techniques. The particle sizes of MIPS nanospheres ranging from 25.3 to 112.5 nm over MIPS/CAM could be tuned by controlling the surfactant amount and the adding rate of oil phase into water phase. The flux study showed that the MIPS/CAM possessed good porosity. The selective recognition of phenol over MIPS/CAM was much higher than that over the NIPS/CAM. The phenol adsorption amount and the selectivity coefficients of MIPS/CAM to phenol (α′phenol/SA) increased with decreasing the particle sizes of MIPS nanospheres. The MIPS/CAM showed good recovery performance of phenol from industrial SA effluent.