Preparation and antifouling performance of thin inorganic ultrafiltration membrane via assisted sol-gel method with different composition of dual additives

Abstract

A novel TiO2 thin film was prepared on the ceramic hollow fiber by the sol-gel method using poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as additives. SEM images verified the formation of TiO2 layer with various thickness using different composition of titania sols. The effect of the PVP and PVA contents on the TiO2 sol properties, the separation and the antifouling performance of the ultrafiltration membranes were investigated thoroughly. When the contents of PVP and PVA were 1.0 wt% and 0.8 wt%, respectively, the resultant membrane showed a thickness of 0.55 μm with a pure water flux of 255 L m−2 h−1. In addition, the adherent foulant bovine serum albumin was applied to evaluate the antifouling performance. During the three fouling-recovery cycles, the flux recovery ratio and the flux decay ratio maintained about 99% and 30%. The BSA flux and rejection were still 169 L m−2 h−1 and 96.9% after the cycles, indicating a superior antifouling property.