Research Information System
DESALINATION AND WATER TREATMENT, vol.57, no.26, pp.11931-11944, 2016 (SCI-Expanded)
In the present work, ultrafiltration membranes were prepared using emulsion polyvinyl chloride (EPVC) with the addition of various concentrations of polyethylene glycol (PEG) to investigate the morphological structure and separation properties. The effects of polymer concentration, coagulation bath temperature (CBT), and PEG (6kDa) concentrationsa pore former hydrophilic additivewere studied. Through the phase inversion, the membraneswhich were induced by immersion precipitation in a water coagulation bathwere fabricated through dissolving EPVC in N-methyl-pyrrolidinone, a polymer solvent. Morphological features of the membranes were characterized through scanning electron microscopy, pore size and porosity, and contact angle measurements. Water and bovine serum albumin (BSA) were used in order to study the separation and permeation performance of the fabricated membranes at 3bar, which is operating pressure. The results which were obtained from contact angle test indicated an increment in the membranes hydrophilicity with an increase in PEG concentrations, and then it decreased again. Increasing the CBT led to macrovoid formation in the membrane structure and the appreciation of both membrane permeability and BSA rejection. The addition of PEG resulted in a more porous structure and a higher water flux for those membranes, which were prepared with 13wt.% EPVC; while, for those which were fabricated with 15wt.% polymer, an opposite trend was observed.