Effect of poly(ether–ether–sulfone) concentration on the morphology, performance, thermal stability, mechanical strength, and antifouling of asymmetric cellulose acetate ultrafiltration membranes

Abstract

The aim of the present work is to investigate the morphology, performance, thermal stability, mechanical strength, and antifouling of the poly(ether-ether-sulfone) (PEES)-incorporated asymmetric cellulose acetate (CA)-blended ultrafiltration membranes. High-performance CA/PEES blend ultrafiltration membranes were prepared by the phase inversion technique. The effects of PEES concentration (0-30 wt%) on pure water permeability (PWP), water content, porosity, molecular weight cutoff, mean pore size, morphology, hydrophilicity, and thermal and mechanical properties of the CA/PEES blend membranes were investigated. Morphological studies were carried out using scanning electron microscopy. scanning electron microscopic studies revealed that the incorporation of PEES resulted in the formation of a thin top layer, a porous sub-layer, and the open pores in the bottom layer. The thermal properties of these polymeric membranes were evaluated by thermogravimetric and differential thermogravimetric analyses measurements, whereas the glass transition temperature of the membranes was calculated by differential scanning calorimetry. With the increase in the concentration of PEES on the CA membranes, the PWP, hydrophilicity, water content, porosity, the thermal stability, glass transition temperature, tensile strength, tensile modulus, and elongation at break significantly improved in the blend membranes. The efficiency of these membranes in the separation of commercially important proteins such as bovine serum albumin (BSA), egg albumin, pepsin, and trypsin was studied and found to be enhanced as compared to CA membranes. In fouling experiments, BSA was used as the model protein, and flux recovery ratio (FRR) of the membranes was calculated. Attempts have been made to correlate the changes in membrane morphology with pure water flux, water content, porosity, thermal and mechanical stability, separation efficiency, and antifouling property of the CA/PEES membranes. It has been demonstrated that the fouling-resistant ability of CA/PEES membranes is enhanced due to the high FRR with the addition of PEES in the casting solution. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that the membranes prepared with 80/20 composition of CA/PEES blend membranes are promising candidates for industrial applications.

Fabrication of high-performance ultrafiltration membranes using zwitterionic carbon nanotubes and polyethersulfone

“…Generally, the permeability of the membrane is determined by its morphology, hydrophilicity, and porosity. 35 The influence of functionalized MWCNTs on the membrane's permeability is shown in Figure 7, from which it can be seen that the permeability of the composite membranes is more than that of the pristine PES membrane. This is because the introduction of functionalized MWCNTs endows the membrane with higher porosity and stronger hydrophilicity.…”

Fabrication of cellulose acetate ultrafiltration membrane with diphenyl ketone via thermally induced phase separation

“…The mechanical strength of CA membranes prepared in different coarsening conditions located in the range of 14.55–26.45 MPa. The mechanical property in this work is better than that of the CA membranes (2.0−4.0 MPa of tensile strength) prepared via NIPS method, which can be attributed to the presence of interconnected pores and the absence of macrovoids in the membrane cross‐section . The excellent mechanical property is promising for CA membrane to be used in the UF process.…”

Friction and wear properties of poly(ether sulfone) containing perfluorocarbon end group

“…Because of low density, corrosion resistance, good machinability, and other fantastic characteristics, engineering plastics have undergone rapid development to replace the traditional metallic materials in high-tech fields in the past few decades. [1][2][3][4][5] Much research into modifying poly(ether sulfone) (PES) has been conducted due to its excellent mechanical performance. These materials can be widely applied for numerous purposes as self-lubricating mechanical parts and nonstick coating.…”