Abstract
This work aims to study the characterization of several membrane filters by using capillary flow porometry (CFP) and liquid extrusion porometry (LEP) to obtain their pore size distributions (PSD) and mean pore diameters (davg). Three polymeric membranes of different materials namely, polyethylene (PET), cellulose nitrate (CN), and FM (face mask), and one inorganic (namely, alumina Al2O3) from ultrafiltration (UF)/microfiltration (MF) and particle separation were analyzed using a pressure constant fluid/liquid extrusion porometer, developed at institute de la filtration et techniques séparatives (IFTS). Several porosimetric fluids have been used to wet and penetrate into the porous/fiber structure. The results show the accuracy of the setup on characterizing membranes in the UF/MF range by CFP, with reasonable agreement with nominal data of the filters. Additionally, LEP extension of the equipment obtained good agreement with nominal data and the CFP results, while filters presenting a microstructure of highly interconnected pores (face mask) resulted in clear differences in terms of resulting PSD and average sizes when CFP and LEP results are compared.
Highlights
Characterization of the pore-size distribution (PSD) of porous/fiber materials has been widely studied among the scientific community and membrane manufacturers [1,2]
Four flat-sheet membranes supplied from recognized manufacturers were characterized and were selected so that the pore sizes spanned most of the UF–MF–Particle Filtration range, and made of different materials, namely: alumina (Al2 O3 ), polyethylene (PET), cellulose nitrate (CN), and a face mask (FM) filter made of layered cotton fibers integrated into surgical masks and respirators (Figure 4)
The pore size distributions (PSD) of Anopore (0.02 μm), PET, NC Sartorius (5 μm), and Filter Mask were obtained via liquid–liquid displacement porometry (LLDP)/gas liquid displacement porometry (GLDP), depending on the size of the pore population for each membrane
Summary
Characterization of the pore-size distribution (PSD) of porous/fiber materials has been widely studied among the scientific community and membrane manufacturers [1,2]. Understanding the constitution, structure, and functional behavior of the membrane has improved in the last few years as the membrane properties and the membrane process has been scaled up, coupled with the economic large-scale manufacture of the membrane [3]. This knowledge needs to be acquired by using appropriate methods, because the studied membranes are put into a large number of different uses and application, even within a particular separation process, a membrane will be characterized in terms of its pore size, molecular weight cut-off, (MWCO), porosity, thickness, symmetry, permeability, hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity, adsorption, crystallization, etc.
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