Abstract
Membrane fouling has been one of the most important challenges in membrane separation operations. In this study, we report a facile strategy to prepare antifouling polysulfone (PSf) UF membranes by blending amphiphilic zwitterion polysulfone-co-sulfobetaine polysulfone (PSf-co-SBPSf) copolymer. The copolymer chemical structure was characterized by 1HNMR spectroscopy. The PSf/PSf-co-SBPSf blend membranes with various zwitterionic SBPSf segment contents exhibited better surface hydrophilicity and excellent antifouling ability compared to PSf and PSf/PEG membranes. The significant increase of both porosity and water permeance indicates that the PSf-co-SBPSf has a pore-forming effect. The pure water flux and flux recovery ratio of the PSf/PSf-co-SBPSf blend membranes were both remarked to improve 286.43 L/m2h and 92.26%, while bovine serum albumin (BSA) rejection remained at a high level (97.66%). More importantly, the water flux and BSA rejection see minimal variance after heat treatment, indicating excellent thermostability. Overall, the PSf/PSf-co-SBPSf blend membranes achieved a comprehensive performance of sustainable hydrophilic, high permeation flux, and remarkable antifouling ability, thus becoming a promising candidate in high-temperature separation application.
Highlights
Membrane filtration is a green separation method with numerous applications due to its energy efficient, environmentally friendly and modular separation in comparison with other separation process [1,2,3]
Copolymers containing a relatively hydrophobic PSf backbone and hydrophilic sulfobetaine side chains were synthesized by step polymerization and post-polymerization modifications (Scheme 2)
We reported a facile approach to prepare novel polysulfone-based ultrafiltration membranes via non-solvent-induced phase separation (NIPS) with antifouling and thermostability properties by blending PSf-co-SBPSf copolymer
Summary
Membrane filtration is a green separation method with numerous applications due to its energy efficient, environmentally friendly and modular separation in comparison with other separation process [1,2,3]. The polysulfone (PSf) matrix membranes are commonly used for UF membranes, as well as support membranes for microfiltration, nanofiltration and reverse osmosis, due to their strong mechanical properties, thermal and chemical stability [7,8,9,10]. Intrinsic hydrophobic nature makes it easy to adhere to protein and bacteria, which leads to membrane fouling [11,12,13]. Fouling results in a decline in flux, leading to reduced productivity and increased energy costs [14,15,16,17,18]. Developing fouling-resistant membranes is of great important in filtration
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