Supateekan Pacharasakoolchai and Watchanida Chinpa

pp. 209 - 215

Abstract

The aim of this work was to prepare and characterize poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC)/polycarbonate (PC) blend membranes
for use in ultrafiltration. Pluronic F127 was used as an additive to modify the membrane surface of the PVC/PC blended
membranes. The PVC/PC blend membrane was first prepared using the phase inversion method from a casting solution of
PVC with small amount of PC in N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) and water as the non-solvent. The morphologies structure and
properties, such as tensile strength, water flux, and bovine serum albumin (BSA) rejection of the blend membrane were
studied. Increased amounts of PC resulted in an increase in the water flux and ability to reject protein. A concentration of
0.75 wt% PC provided the best improvement in tensile strength of blend membrane. Addition of different amounts of pluronic
F127 to the casting solution of PVC/PC with a PC concentration of 0.75 wt% resulted in a decrease in the water contact angle
that demonstrated the improvement of hydrophilicity of blend membrane. Scanning electron microscopy photographs showed
that the modified PVC/PC membranes had a bigger pore volume in the porous sub-layer compared to the PVC/PC control
membrane. The PVC/PC membrane with added Pluronic F127 exhibited a much higher flux and rejection of BSA in a protein
filtration experiment than the PVC/PC membrane. An increase in flux recovery ratio of PVC/PC/pluronic 127 blend membrane
indicated that the modified membranes could reduce membrane fouling useful for ultrafiltration.