• Membrane and Water Treatment
• /
• v.8 no.6
• /
• pp.591-612
• /
• 2017

Increase in the hydrophilicity (HPCT) of polysulfone (PS) membrane and subsequently decrease in fouling can be achieved by surface modification of PS based membranes. Therefore, in this work, ultrafiltration membranes with increased HPCT were prepared using the enantiomeric tartaric acid (D-TA) and racemic tartaric acid (DL-TA). Phase inversion technique was used for the preparation of polyethylene glycol and TA blended PS membrane. Morphological analysis of the fabricated membranes was done by scanning electron microscope and atomic force microscopy. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) solution was taken for finding the permeation and rejection behavior of prepared membranes. Maximum BSA rejection was increased by 70.5% for the modified membrane.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
• /
• v.7 no.3
• /
• pp.257-275
• /
• 2016

The enantiomeric and racemic effects of tartaric acid (TA) on the properties of polysulfone (PSn) ultrafiltration membranes were studied in terms of morphology and hydrophilicity (HPCT) of membrane. Asymmetric membranes were prepared by direct blending of polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) with D-TA and DL-TA in membrane casting solution. FTIR analysis was done for the confirmation of the reaction of PVP and TA in blended membranes and plain PSn membranes. Scanning electron microscope (SEM), field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were used for analyzing the morphology and structure of the resulting membranes. The membranes were characterized in terms of pure water flux (PWF), hydraulic permeability and HPCT. PWF increased from $52L/m^2h$ to $79.9L/m^2h$ for plain and D-TA containing PSn membrane, respectively. Water contact angle also found to be decreased from $68^{\circ}$ to $55^{\circ}$. In Additionally, permeation and rejection behavior of prepared membranes was studied by bovine serum albumin (BSA) solution. A considerable increase in BSA flux (from $19.1L/m^2h$ for plain membrane to $32.1L/m^2h$ for D-TA containing membrane) was observed. FESEM images affirm that the pore size of the membranes decreases and the membrane permeability increases from 0.16 to 0.32 by the addition of D-TA in the membrane. D-TA increases the HPCT whereas; DL-TA decreases the HPCT of PSn membrane. PVP (average molecular weight of 40000 Da) with D-TA (1 wt%) gave best performance among all the membranes for each parameter.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.303-312
• /
• 2006

The asymmetric hybrid membranes of polyethersulfone (PES) and $ZrO_2$ nanoparticles were prepared via new one-step procedure combining simultaneously the phase-inversion method and the sol-gel technique. The optimum contents of $Zr(PrO)_4\;and\;HNO_3$ catalyst were determined by the adsorption experiments of phosphate anion onto the resulting hybrid membranes. The maximum adsorption of phosphate anion is obtained at the conditions of 0.15 mL $Zr(PrO)_4$ addition per 1 mL PES and 30 mL $HNO_3$ addition per 1 mL $Zr(PrO)_4$. Variation of morphology, performance and incorporated $ZrO_2$ amount of the resulting hybrid membranes were discussed and determined using SEM, pure water flux, TGA, ICP, XRD and contact angle measurements. Increasing $Zr(PrO)_4$ addition into casting solution, pure water flux is increased and $ZrO_2$ amount in the hybrid membrane is maximized at the conditions 0.15 mL $Zr(PrO)_4$ addition per 1 mL PES. The prephosphatation of PES-$ZrO_2$ hybrid membrane was studied to modify the surface characteristics of membrane. Ultrafiltration of bovine serum albumin (BSA) solution was performed in a dead-end cell using both a bare (non-phosphated) and a phosphated hybrid membrane. It is revealed that both the permeate flux and BSA rejection were increased as about 40% by prephosphatation of hybrid membrane. These results may be explained on the basis of the increase of membrane hydrophilicity, which was determined from contact angle measurements.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.31 no.6
• /
• pp.434-442
• /
• 2021

Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membrane has a good membrane durability because of its high mechanical resistance, thermal and chemical stability. However, the strong hydrophobic property of PVDF membrane can induce a low water permeability and easy fouling by proteins and organic matters. In order to improve the anti-fouling properties of PVDF membrane, the PVDF mixed matrix asymmetric membranes impregnated with biofunctional material 𝛽-cyclodextrin (𝛽-CD) in the membrane structure were prepared by phase inversion method. The membrane filtration experiments of pure water and BSA solution were performed using the PVDF/𝛽-CD mixed matrix asymmetric membranes prepared according to the 𝛽-CD contents. The experiments showed that the introduction of 𝛽-CD into the PVDF polymer matrix contributed to increase in the hydrophilic property of the PVDF membranes, and this led to the reduction of contact angles and improvement of anti-fouling properties. The PVDF/𝛽-CD membrane which was prepared using the dope solution with a 2 wt% 𝛽-CD content represented 64 L/m²·h of pure water flux, 95% of BSA rejection and maximum 80% of flux enhancements compared to flux results of the pristine PVDF membrane.

• Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry
• /
• v.67
• /
• pp.199-209
• /
• 2018

Polyethersulfone (PES)/sulfonated $TiO_2$ ($STiO_2$) nanoparticles (NPs) UF blended membranes were fabricated with different loadings of $STiO_2$. The modified membranes exhibited significant improvement in surface roughness, porosity, and pore size when compared to the PES membrane. The $P-STiO_2$ 1 and $P-TiO_2$ 1 blended membranes exhibited higher water flux, approximately 102.4% and 62.6%, respectively, compared to PES. SPP-$STiO_2$ and $P-STiO_2$ showed lower Rir fouling resistance than the $P-TiO_2$ blended membrane. Overall, the $STiO_2$-blended membranes provide high hydrophilicity permeability, anti-fouling performance, and improved BSA rejection attributed to the hydrogen bonding force and more electrostatic repulsion properties of $STiO_2$.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.75-89
• /
• 2002

The effect of addition of inorganic salts in polyethersulfone (PES) polymer solution on the membrane formation and ultrafiltartion performance was studied through the thermodynamic and kinetic properties of casting solution. To control the thermodynamic and kinetic properties of casting solution, various inorganic salts $[CaC1_2, LiCl, LiClO_4, ZnC1_2 $and Mg(ClO_4)_2]$ were added in the PES/NMP solution. Variation of membrane morphology and performance of the resulting membranes with change of the salt type and content added in tasting solution were discussed using viscosity, coagulation value, light transmittance measurement, overall membrane porosity, ultrafiltration experiment and cross-sectional SEM image. For all kind of inorganic salts, according as increase of the salt content in casting solution, viscosity is increased, coagulation value becomes lower, top layer thickness below the skin surface is increased, bovine serum albumin(BSA) rejection decreased and pure water flux is increased except $CaC1_2$ and LiCl. In case of $CaC1_2$ and LiCl, it is found that when the salt content is increased, the formation of macrovoids is suppressed and the precipitation rate becomes slow while instantaneous demixing of precipitation type is maintained. However, in case of $LiClO_4$ and $Mg(ClO_4)_2,$ it is found that precipitation rate becomes faster.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
• /
• v.7 no.5
• /
• pp.377-401
• /
• 2016

To study the effect of titanium dioxide ($TiO_2$) nanoparticles on membrane performance and structure and to explore possible improvement of using mixed solvents in the casting solution, composite polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) ultrafiltration membranes were prepared via immersion precipitation method using a mixture of two solvents triethyl phosphate (TEP) and dimethylacetamide (DMAc) and addition of $TiO_2$ nanoparticles. Properties of the neat and composite membranes were characterized using scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and contact angle and membrane porosity measurements. The neat and composite membranes were further investigated in terms of BSA rejection and flux decline in cross flow filtration experiments. Following hydrophilicity improvement of the PVDF membrane by addition of 0.25 wt.% $TiO_2$, (from $70.53^{\circ}$ to $60.5^{\circ}$) degree of flux decline due to irreversible fouling resistance of the composite membrane reduced significantly and the flux recovery ratio (FRR) of 96.85% was obtained. The results showed that using mixed solvents (DMAc/TEP) with lower content of $TiO_2$ nanoparticles (0.25 wt.%) affected the sedimentation rate of nanoparticles and consequently the distribution of nanoparticles in the casting solution and membrane formation which influenced the properties of the ultimate composite membranes.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
• /
• v.8 no.6
• /
• pp.563-574
• /
• 2017

Antibacterial effective, high performanced, novel ZnO embedded composite membranes were obtained by blendig ZnO nanoparticles with polysulfone. IR, TG/DTG, XRD and SEM analysis were performed to characterize structure and morphology of ZnO nanoparticles and composite membranes. Contact angle, EWC, porosity and pore structure properties of composite membranes were investigated. Cross-flow filtration studies were performed to investigation of performances of prepared membranes. It was found from the cross section SEM images that ZnO nanoparticles dispersed homogenously up to additive amount of 2% and the membrane skin layer thicknesses increased in the presence of ZnO. Contact angle of pure PSf membranes were reduced from $70^{\circ}$ to $55^{\circ}$ after addition of 4% ZnO. Porosity of composite membrane contains 1% ZnO was higher about 22% than pure PSf membrane. BSA rejection ratio and PWF of 0.5% ZnO embedded composite membrane became 2.2 and 2.3 times higher than pure PSf membrane. It was determined from flux recovery ratios that ZnO additive increased the fouling resistance of composite membranes. Also, the bacterial killing ability of ZnO is well known and there are many researches related to this in the literature. Therefore, it is expected that prepared composite membranes will show antibacterial effect.