Applying a Hydrophilic Modified Hollow Fiber Membrane to Reduce Fouling in Artificial Lungs

Nawaf Alshammari,Meshari Alazmi,Vajid Nettoor Veettil

doi:10.3390/separations8080113

Abstract

Membranes for use in high gas exchange lung applications are riddled with fouling. The goal of this research is to create a membrane that can function in an artificial lung until the actual lung becomes available for the patient. The design of the artificial lung is based on new hollow fiber membranes (HFMs), due to which the current devices have short and limited periods of low fouling. By successfully modifying membranes with attached peptoids, low fouling can be achieved for longer periods of time. Hydrophilic modification of porous polysulfone (PSF) membranes can be achieved gradually by polydopamine (PSU-PDA) and peptoid (PSU-PDA-NMEG5). Polysulfone (PSU-BSA-35Mg), polysulfone polydopamine (PSUPDA-BSA-35Mg) and polysulfone polydopamine peptoid (PSU-PDA-NMEG5-BSA35Mg) were tested by potting into the new design of gas exchange modules. Both surfaces of the modified membranes were found to be highly resistant to protein fouling permanently. The use of different peptoids can facilitate optimization of the low fouling on the membrane surface, thereby allowing membranes to be run for significantly longer time periods than has been currently achieved.

Highlights

The basic involuntary activity of gas exchange plays an essential role in sustaining life
Oxygen transfer was estimated with a new design of gas exchange module for both unmodified fibers (PSU) and modified fibers, i.e. either polydopamine fibers (PSU-PDA) or peptoid fibers (PSU-PDA-NMEG5)
Findings from our study show that the addition of NMEG5 to membranes greatly enhanced the permeability of the membrane to oxygen and with low fouling for up to 6 h as compared to 3 h with MMEG5, which is in accordance with previous studies [13]

Summary

Introduction

The basic involuntary activity of gas exchange plays an essential role in sustaining life. Deforestation is augmenting the number of patients with lung diseases. This has thrived researchers’ interest in the field. Present respiratory assist devices are not up to the same standard, especially when the patient is waiting for a lung transplant [2,3]. There are several obstructions with available artificial lungs/respiratory assist devices because the main material used are polymeric hollow fibers membranes (HFMs) for the transportations between blood/ biological material and gas pathways. These have caused major concern with an accumulation of fouling [4]. There is a microporous and nonporous oxygenator membrane [5]

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Conclusion