EFFECTS OF CASTING SOLUTION COMPOSITION ON PERFORMANCE OF POLY(ETHER SULFONE) MEMBRANE

摘要

Flat-type poly(ether sulfone) (PES) membranes for ultrafiltration were prepared by the traditional phase-inversion technique. The effects of the concentration of PES and the combination of two solvents, dichloromethane (DCM) and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), with differences in volatility and solvating power on membrane performance were examined in terms of pure water flux (PWF) and solute rejection (SR) against poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG, MW 20,000). Changing the thermodynamic quality of PES/NMP casting solution by combining DCM, a volatile and weak solvent, affected the PWF of the resulting membrane. The SR of PES/DCM-NMP membrane, however, was more likely dependent upon the effect of evaporating the volatile solvent from the casting solution/air interface rather than the effect of changing the thermodynamic quality of the casting solution. Combining DCM in PES/NMP casting solution transformed the fingerlike macrovoids of PES/NMP membrane prepared without DCM into the isolated macrovoids. PES/DCM-NMP membrane prepared with PVP, a water soluble pore-forming agent, showed an increased PWF while maintaining SR of over 90%, even under the reduced feeding pressure of 1 kg/cm(2). It is necessary to measure molecular weight cutoff of membrane for demonstrating the potential of PVP for improving the membrane permeability without losing the selectivity. (C) 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [References: 16]