Effective and efficient fabrication of high-flux tight ZrO2 ultrafiltration membranes using a nanocrystalline precursor

Abstract

The use of membrane technology in protein purification is limited by the subsequent membrane fouling. In this study, tight ZrO2 ultrafiltration (UF) membranes with narrow pore size distributions, which effectively reduced the pollution of ceramic membranes, were prepared using a nanocrystalline precursor. The pore size distribution and permeance of the fabricated membranes were controlled by adjusting the sintering temperature. The molecular weight cut-off of the membranes increased from 25 kDa (7 nm) to 66 kDa (10.9 nm) as the sintering temperature increased from 400 °C to 800 °C, while their permeance increased from 135 to 225 L m−2 h−1 bar−1. The ZrO2 UF membrane sintered at the range of 400–600 °C was tested for the BSA molecules solution separation, which showed almost 100% of BSA molecules retention and demonstrated a stable permeance of approximately 80–95 L m−2·h−1 bar−1. Moreover, the sintering temperature of 500 °C was identified as the optimal temperature in terms of the removal of organic additives and energy consumption. The obtained results indicate that the prepared ZrO2 UF membranes can be potentially used for protein separation.