Abstract
In this study, the effect of poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) additive on the fabrication of asymmetric nanofiltration (NF) membranes was investigated in terms of performance, structural details and key properties. On addition of PVP ranging from 2 to 10 wt% into the dope solution, the fabricated NF membranes exhibited significantly different in properties and improved performance. In particular, the membranes made from 2 wt% PVP had the highest water flux and salt rejection of about 3.61 × 10–6 m3/m2s and 44.49 %, respectively. Modeling results revealed that small amount of PVP (2–4 wt%) produced finer structural properties. Moreover, the key properties (rp, ∆x/Ak and ζ) of the fabricated NF membranes were found to be within the range of that of commercial NF membranes.
Highlights
Most of the polymeric based asymmetric membranes are prepared by phase inversion process based on immersion precipitation technique [1,2,3,4,5,6]
In this study, the effect of poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) additive on the fabrication of asymmetric nanofiltration (NF) membranes was investigated in terms of performance, structural details and key properties
N-methyl2-pyrrolidone (NMP, > 99 %) and poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP K15) were purchased from Merck, Darmstadt, Germany were used as solvent and additives, respectively, while distilled water was used as a non-solvent
Summary
Most of the polymeric based asymmetric membranes are prepared by phase inversion process based on immersion precipitation technique [1,2,3,4,5,6]. The formation of ultra-thin skin layer, membrane morphology and pore size characteristic was studied based on flat sheet or single layer asymmetric membranes [7]. Asymmetric membrane has been widely used for gas separation and liquid separation, because the thin top layer plays the role of a selective barrier film, and the porous sub-layer, which includes macrovoids, pores and micropores, offers good mechanical strength [8]. It is known that the skin layer provides major resistance to the permeation of solute through the membrane, whereas the porous substructure functions exclusively as a mechanical support. The capability of an asymmetric membrane to reject or admit a certain solute species is, determined by the morphology, pore size and density of the skin layer [10]. In order to control the membrane structure, low molecular weight component or the secondary polymer is frequently used as the additive in the membrane forming system because it offers a convenient and effective way to develop high performance membranes [11]
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