Abstract
Polyethersulfone (PES) hollow fiber membranes were fabricated using dry-jet wet spinning technique, a phase inversion method, with 16 and 20% PES, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) as solvent and tap water as nonsolvent, in order to evaluate if the amount of polymer has a significant effect on its properties. They were characterized using SEM for a morphological analysis, a continuous system to measure pure water permeability (PWP) and molecular weight cutoff (MWCO), and a universal testing machine to tensile tests. The obtained results for PWP was an average of about 220 L m- ² h-1 bar-1 for the 16% PES membrane and 174 L m- ² h-1 bar-1 for the 20% PES membrane. The results of mechanical resistance and MWCO did not present statistical differences. Thus, it is confirmed that the 16% PES membrane can be as good as the 20%, despite using less polymer, a finding that can further motivate membrane modification studies and other related works.
Highlights
Polymeric hollow fiber membranes were first developed by Dow Chemical in 1966 and since due to their properties as high processability and low cost, they are the most common material used for membrane fabrication[1,2,3]
Dry-jet wet spinning follows this idea with a phase inversion beginning with an induced evaporation that occurs in the air gap and finishing in the coagulation bath with a phase inversion induced by diffusion[1]
Pure water permeability (PWP) measurements were estimated in an experimental setup, where a module made from low-density polyethylene (LDPE) was utilized with two hollow fiber membranes with 30 cm effective lengths, folded in half and fed topside in an inside out mode
Summary
Polymeric hollow fiber membranes were first developed by Dow Chemical in 1966 and since due to their properties as high processability and low cost, they are the most common material used for membrane fabrication[1,2,3]. Polyethersulfone (PES) has been widely used because it can tolerate a large range of pH, has a good thermal stability and excellent chemical and mechanical resistance[6,8,9] This polymer and the conditions for the solution spinning determine the morphology and properties of hollow fiber membrane, such as selectivity[7,10]. Lower consumption of plastic is a policy growing in many countries, seeking to encourage consumers to find a way to reduce it on a daily basis[24] Based on this tendency, the present work focuses on studying the properties of hollow fiber membranes made of 16 and 20% PES, evaluating if there are significant differences among the results obtained that justify the use of a bigger quantity of polymer. Future studies of membrane modification can be based on compositions using smaller amounts of polymer without impairing its application, demonstrating its importance
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