• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.103-120
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• 2010

Surface modification of microfiltration and ultrafiltration membranes has been widely used to improve the protein adsorption resistance and permeation properties of hydrophobic membranes. Several surface modification methods for converting conventional membranes into low-protein-binding membranes are reviewed. They are categorized as either physical modification or chemical modification of the membrane surface. Physical modification of the membrane surface can be achieved by coating it with hydrophilic polymers, hydrophilic-hydrophobic copolymers, surfactants or proteins. Another method of physical modification is plasma treatment with gases. A hydrophilic membrane surface can be also generated during phase-inverted micro-separation during membrane formation, by blending hydrophilic or hydrophilic-hydrophobic polymers with a hydrophobic base membrane polymer. The most widely used method of chemical modification is surface grafting of a hydrophilic polymer by UV polymerization because it is the easiest method; the membranes are dipped into monomers with and without photo-initiators, then irradiated with UV. Plasma-induced polymerization of hydrophilic monomers on the surface is another popular method, and surface chemical reactions have also been developed by several researchers. Several important examples of physical and chemical modifications of membrane surfaces for low-protein-binding are summarized in this article.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.323-337
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• 2015

Membrane Fouling was considered as major drawback in various industrial applications. Thus, this paper reviews the surface modification of polyethersulfone (PES) membranes for antifouling performance. Various modification techniques clearly indicate that hydrophilicity has to improve on the PES membrane surface. Moreover, the mechanism of fouling reduction with corresponds to various modification methods is widely discussed. Incorporation of hydrophilic functional groups on PES membrane surface enhances the surface free energy thereby which reduces the fouling. Characterization techniques adopted for the surface modified membranes was also discussed. These studies might be useful for the other researchers to utilize the modification technique for the applications of waste water treatment, chemical process industry and food industry.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.109-126
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• 2013

Surface modification by low-pressure ammonia ($NH_3$) plasma on commercial thin-film composite (TFC) membranes was investigated in this study. Surface hydrophilicity, total surface free energy, ion exchange capacity (IEC) and zeta (${\zeta}$)-potentials were determined for the TFC membranes. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the membrane surface chemistry were conducted by attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR FT-IR) spectroscopy. Results showed that the $NH_3$ plasma treatment increased the surface hydrophilicity, in particular at a plasma treatment time longer than 5 min at 50 W of plasma power. Total surface free energy was influenced by the basic polar components introduced by the $NH_3$ plasma, and isoelectric point (IEP) was shifted to higher pH region after the modification. A ten (10) min $NH_3$ plasma treatment at 90 W was found to be adequate for the TFC membrane modification, resulting in a membrane with better characteristics than the TFC membranes without the modification for water treatment. The thin-film chemistry (i.e., fully-aromatic and semi-aromatic nature in the interfacial polymerization) influenced the initial stage of plasma modification.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.83-92
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• 2010

To improve the antifouling characteristics of polypropylene hollow fiber microporous membranes in a submerged membrane-bioreactor for wastewater treatment, the surface-modification was conducted by Ar plasma treatment. Surface hydrophilicity was assessed by water contact angle measurements. The advancing and receding water contact angles reduced after the surface modification, and hysteresis between the advancing and receding water contact angles was enlarged after Ar plasma treatment due to the increased surface roughness after surface plasma treatment. After continuous operation in a submerged membrane-bioreactor for about 55 h, the flux recovery after water cleaning and the flux ratio after fouling were improved by 20.0 and 143.0%, while the reduction of flux was reduced by 28.6% for the surface modified membrane after 1 min Ar plasma treatment, compared to those of the unmodified membrane. Morphological observations showed that the mean membrane pore size after Ar plasma treatment reduced as a result of the deposition of the etched species; after it was used in the submerged membrane-bioreactor, the further decline of the mean membrane pore size was caused by the deposition of foulants. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and infrared spectroscopy confirmed that proteins and polysaccharide-like substances were the main foulants in the precipitate.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.332-342
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• 2015

In this study, to solve the major problem of reverse osmosis (RO) membrane, surface of reverse osmosis membrane was modified by silane-epoxy multi layer. Octyltrimethoxysilane (OcTES) was polymerized to membrane surface via cross-linking by Sol-gel method. n = 8 alkylgroup of OcTES formed the branch structure by self assembly. And for improve fouling resistance of RO membrane, Ether group of ethylene glycol diglycidyl ether (EGDE) was given to improve hydrophilicity of RO membrane surface by ring-opening. To analyze structure of RO membrane surface with FE-TEM and AFM. Membrane surface of the ridge and valley structure and the bridge structure was confirmed due to the multi-layer surface modification of OcTES and EGDE. And through the increase of the roughness, the branch structure was formed well on membrane surface. Through the XPS analysis was identified chemical structure of membrane surface. And confirmed that the hydrophilic surface modification is given to the surface of the film through a Contact angle analysis. In optimization of EGDE surface modification condition, was suitable 0.5 wt% EGDE concentraion and $70^{\circ}C$ ring-opening temperature. In result of fouling resistance test and MFI is SUL-H10, $PA-OcTES_{1.0}$, $PA-OcTES_{1.0}-EGDE_{0.5}$ 68.7, 60.4, 5.4 ($10E-8hr/mL^2$), multi-layer surface modified membrane improved fouling resistance.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2023

In this review, surface modification methods of hydrophobic poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) membrane are introduced and their improved hydrophilicity results are discussed. Fluoropolymer based membranes, represented by PTFE membranes have been used in various membrane separation processes, including membrane distillation, oil separation and gas separation. However, despite excellent physical properties such as chemical resistance, heat resistance and high mechanical strength, the strong hydrophobicity of PTFE membrane surface has become a challenging factor in expanding its membrane separation application. To improve the separation performance of PTFE membranes, wet chemical, hydrophilic coating, plasma, irradiation and atomic layer deposition are applied, modifying the surface property of PTFE membranes while maintaining their inherent properties.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.1-20
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• 2018

Fresh water is an important resource for humans, and pressure-driven membrane technology has been widely known as an energy-efficient method to obtain water resource. However, membrane fouling phenomenon, which is one of the major issue during operation, deteriorates membrane permeability. These fouling is usually affected by interaction between surface of membrane and various foulants, therefore, modification of membrane's surface is one of the methods to improve fouling-resistance. This review focuses on the method to modify surface of pressure-driven membranes such as microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF), and reverse osmosis (RO). Specifically, there are two different surface modification methods: (1) adsorption and coating as the physical modification methods, (2) cross-linker, free radical polymerization (FRP), atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), plasma/UV-induced polymerization as the chemical modification methods. This review introduces the physico - chemical surface modification methods reported in recent papers and suggests research directions for membrane separation which can increase membrane fouling resistance.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 1998.04a
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• pp.97-98
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• 1998

1. Introduction : Polypropylene(PP) membrane is widely used in the field of microfiltration and ultrafiltration. However, the hydrophobicity of PP causes the adsorption of hydrophobic and amphoteric solutes in the feed. Surface modification techniques of membrane through the treatment of hydrophilizing agents, coating of hydrophilic compounds, UV, plasma and high energy irradiation, etc. can have a great effect on propensities to prevent the protein from staining membranes. Among them, the modification to hydophilize membrane surface using UV is very simple and effective. Recently many studies for more effective surface modification have been conducted. Iwata et al. prepared membranes by grafting polyethylene glycol diacrylate macromer(PEGDA) onto polysulfone with plasma using a glow discharge reactor which prevent the oil from staining the membrane. The primary mechanism contributing to the membranes is preventing the oil from directly contacting the surface of the membrane as the PEGDA chains dissolved into emulsion. To evaluate their feasibility for use as a anti-fouling separation membrane, we prepared hydrophilic membranes by UV irradiation method and investigated their characteristics.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.320-329
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• 2005

Polyamide membrane degradation by chlorine has been studied to improve membrane durability. In this study, it was found that the salt rejection was reduced rapidly and flux of the membrane was increased slowly far membrane treated under chlorine condition. In order to improve resistance to chlorine of the polyamide reverse osmosis membrane, fluorine-containing silane coupling agent (FSCA) was introduced to surface modification. Surface properties and chlorine resistance of silane modified membrane were compared with virgin membrane. It was found that the surface of silane modified membrane has dense structure according to FSCA concentration increasing. The results of surface analysis suggest that FSCA retrieved a severe change in the hydrophobicity and surface roughness. In addition, it appears that FSCA can enhance chlorine resistance due to the interaction of such substance with free radical chlorine.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.35-49
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• 2012

In membrane processes, various agents are used to enhance, protect, and recover membrane performance. Applying these agents in membrane modification could potentially be considered as a simple method to improve membrane performance without additional process. Citric acid (CI) and sodium bisulfite (SB) are two chemicals that are widely used in membrane feed water pretreatment and cleaning processes. In this work, preadsorptions of CI and SB were developed as simple methods for polysulfone ultrafiltration membrane modification. It was found that hydrogen bonding and Van Der Waals attraction could be responsible for the adsorptions of CI and SB onto membranes, respectively. After modification with CI or SB, the membrane surfaces became more hydrophilic. Membrane permeability improved when modified by SB while decreased a little when modified by CI. The modified membranes had an increase in PEG and BSA rejections and better antifouling properties with higher flux recovery ratios during filtration of a complex pharmaceutical wastewater. Moreover, membrane chlorine tolerance was elevated after modification with either agent, as shown by the mechanical property measurements.