Fabrication and characterizations of degradable PVC/PLA‐HAp ultrafiltration membrane with enhanced antifouling properties

Abstract

Degradable membranes were obtained by blending of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) with poly lactic acid (PLA) as biodegradable polymer. The effect of the amount of PLA from 10 to 30 wt% on the PVC membrane properties was investigated. The PVC/PLA(80/20) membrane exhibited higher porosity, water uptake and pure water flux than other fabricated membranes. The PVC/PLA(80/20) membrane in TGA results showed that lower temperature required to decompose the membrane in compare of neat PVC membrane. The effect of the amount of hydroxyapatite (HAp) from 0.0 to 3.0 wt% on the PVC/PLA(80/20) membrane structural and antifouling properties was investigated. With the increase in the amount of the HAp up to 2.5 wt%, membrane porosity, hydrophilicity and pure water flux increased. PVC/PLA(80/20)‐2.5 membrane showed higher surface roughness in compare of neat PVC and PVC/PLA(80/20) blended membrane, resulting in higher antifouling properties. Also in the SEM images, embedding the HAp causes to suppress the macrovoids in the cross section of membrane with a higher number of surface pores, which also had lower pore diameter.The humic acid rejection ratios of all PVC/PLA‐HAp nanocomposite membranes were higher than 87%; and all the nanocomposite membranes exhibited higher reversible fouling ratios (RFRs) than the neat PVC membrane.