Qusay Fadhel Alsalhy
Abstract
Polyethersulfone (PES) hollow fiber UF membranes were fabricated usingethanol (non-solvent) as additive and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) as asolvent. Asymmetric hollow fiber UF membranes ...
Read More ...
Polyethersulfone (PES) hollow fiber UF membranes were fabricated usingethanol (non-solvent) as additive and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) as asolvent. Asymmetric hollow fiber UF membranes were spun by wet phaseinversion method from 18 wt.% solids of 18:10:72 (weight ratio) PES/Nonsolvent/NMP solutions. Effect of ethanol concentrations in internal coagulanton morphology and separation performance of PES hollow fiber UFmembranes were investigated. UF membranes were characterized in terms ofscanning electron microscope (SEM) while UF experiments were conductedusing polyethylene glycol (PEG10,000 and 20,000 MW), PVP 40,000MW, andPVA 78,000MW as a solute. It was found that with an increase of ethanolconcentration from 30 to 50 wt.% in the internal coagulant, membraneinternal surfaces were dense and smooth, While the cracks phenomenon wasappear on the internal surfaces of PES hollow fiber membrane with increaseof ethanol concentration up to 100 wt.% (pure ethanol). The external surfacesfor all of the PES membranes are smooth and dense because water is used asexternal coagulant; moreover, there is no change observed in the cross-sectionof PES hollow fiber with increase of ethanol concentration in the internalcoagulant. Pure water permeation fluxes were decreased from 39 to 23.3(L/m2hbar) and solutes rejection increased within less than 50 wt.% ethanolconcentration in internal coagulant and then pure water permeation fluxesincreased up to 65.4 (L/m2hbar) and solutes rejection decreased with anincrease of ethanol concentration.
