A novel antifouling and thermally stable polysulfone ultrafiltration membranes with sulfobetaine polyimide as porogen

Abstract

Polysulfone ultrafiltration membranes were prepared with sulfobetaine polyimide (s‐PI) via phase inversion process, during which s‐PI migrated and enriched on the surfaces of membranes/pores due to its hydrophilic nature. Therefore, s‐PI not only enhanced surface hydrophilicity, but also acted as a pore‐forming agent. It was proved that the introduction of s‐PI effectively promoted membrane porosity and antifouling ability. Under optimized conditions, the pure water flux of blend membranes reached 220.58 L m−2 h−1 with a protein rejection ratio of 99.3%, and a flux recovery ratio of 90.86%, indicating the superior antifouling property and filtration performances of zwitterionic polymer blend membranes. Moreover, the blend membrane can stand a temperature of 90°C without degrading its separation performance. Besides excellent thermal stability, the blend membranes exhibited a distinctly advanced mechanical strength due to the addition of rigid s‐PI polymer. Overall, this study provided a facile and scalable method for the preparation of antifouling and thermally stable ultrafiltration membranes.

Study on Treatment of Tiny Pollution Water with PAC-HUM System in Kuitun River

“…In addition, with increased PAC dosage, the amount of adsorbed pollutants increases, which reduces the chance of pollutants in the water blocking the membrane pores, in addition to loosening the mud cake formed by the large-particle disaster membrane surface with PAC as the core, thus better maintaining the membrane flux. Therefore, with a high PAC dosage, the decline in membrane flux is minimal [ 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ].…”