Mitigated membrane fouling in an SMBR by surface modification

Fouling is a major obstacle in membrane processes applied in membrane bioreactor. To improve the antifouling characteristics of polypropylene hollow fiber microporous membranes (PPHFMMs) in a submerged membrane bioreactor (SMBR), the PPHFMMs were surface modified by NH₃, CO₂ plasma treatment, photoinduced graft polymerization of acrylamide and acrylic acid. The structural and morphological changes on the membrane surface were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR/ATR) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The change of surface wettability was monitored by contact angle measurements. The results of XPS and FT-IR/ATR clearly indicated the successful modification on the membrane surface. The static water contact angle of the modified membrane reduced obviously. The antifouling characteristics of the modified membranes in an SMBR were evaluated. The modified membranes showed better filtration performances in the submerged membrane bioreactor than the unmodified one, and the acrylic acid-grafted membrane presented the best antifouling characteristics. The results demonstrated that (1) the surface carboxyl-containing membranes were better than the surface amido-containing membranes; (2) surface-grafted membranes were better than the plasma-treated membranes.     

Chain-length dependence of the antifouling characteristics of the glycopolymer-modified polypropylene membrane in an SMBR

Membrane-bioreactor processes have increased considerably in recent years. However, the natural disadvantages of common membrane materials, such as hydrophobic surface, cause membrane fouling and cumber further extensive applications. In this work, hydrophilic surface modification of polypropylene microporous membranes was carried out by the sequential photoinduced graft polymerization of d-gluconamidoethyl methacrylate (GAMA) to meet the requirements of wastewater treatment and water reclamation applications. The grafting density and grafting chain length were controlled independently in the first and second step, respectively. Attenuated total reflection–Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR/ATR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were employed to confirm the surface modification on the membranes. Water contact angle was measured by the sessile drop method. Results of FT-IR/ATR and XPS clearly indicated that GAMA was grafted on the membrane surface. It was found that the grafting chain length increased reasonably with the increase of the UV irradiation time. Water contact angle on the modified membrane decreased with the increase of the grafting chain length, and showed a minimum value of 43.2°, approximately 51.8° lower than that of the unmodified membrane. The pure water fluxes for the modified membranes increased systematically with the increase of the grafting chain length. The effect of the grafting chain length on the antifouling characteristics in a submerged membrane-bioreactor for synthetic wastewater treatment was investigated. After continuous operation in the submerged membrane-bioreactor for about 70 h, reduction from pure water flux was 90.7% for the virgin PPHFMM, and ranged from 80.8 to 87.2% for the modified membranes, increasing with increasing chain length. The flux of the virgin PPHFMM membrane after fouling and subsequent washing was 31.5% of the pure water flux through the unfouled membrane; for the modified membranes this ranged from 27.8 to 16.3%, decreasing with increasing chain length. These results demonstrated that the antifouling characteristics for the glucopolymer-modified membranes were improved with an increase in GAMA chain length.     

低温等离子体对聚合物多孔膜的亲水化改性

综述了低温等离子体在聚合物多孔膜表面亲水化改性领域的研究与应用进展。在简要介绍等离子体技术的原理、方法的基础上,讨论了Ar、He、O2、N2、CO2、H2O、NH2和SO2等非反应性和反应性气体的等离子体表面处理,烷基醇、烷基胺、烯丙基醇和烯丙基胺等饱和及不饱和单体的等离子体沉积聚合,以及烯类单体的等离子体引发的接枝聚合等等离子体方法,对膜表面和膜孔壁的化学组成和形态结构、膜亲水性的获得及其时效性、膜水通量和蛋白质抗污染性等方面的影响。     

聚偏氟乙烯膜改性方法研究进展

膜污染是聚偏氟乙烯(PVDF)膜在污水处理工程应用中的主要障碍,膜亲水改性是改善膜污染的主要方法。本文根据改性方法的异同,按照表面涂覆、表面接枝、共混改性、共聚改性等方法进行了综述。通过分析不同改性方法对PVDF亲水效果、渗透能力、抗污能力及长期有效性等方面的影响,讨论了各种改性方法的优缺点,为PVDF膜处理的应用提供技术和理论支持。     

Ultrafiltration polyanionic poly (3-sulfopropyl methacrylate) membranes with enhanced antifouling and water flux

Polyethersulfone (PES) membranes are prevalent in the field of water treatment owing to their exceptional separation efficiency, robust mechanical properties, and resistance to chemical degradation. Nevertheless, these membranes are prone to fouling, resulting in a decrease in both flux and ultrafiltration efficiency. In the present study, PES membranes are blended with poly (3-Sulfopropyl Methacrylate) (PSPMA) in various weight percentages (0%–3%) to improve their antifouling and ultrafiltration properties. The physicochemical properties of the blended membranes, including surface morphology, contact angle, hydrophilicity and surface energy are evaluated. The findings indicate that incorporation PSPMA results in an enhancement of the hydrophilic properties and surface charge of the PES membranes, assessed by employing Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) as a representative protein. Modified blended membranes display greater Flux Recovery Ratio (FRR%) and exhibit superior fouling resistance. Under the same experimental conditions (0.2 MPa applied pressure), a pure water flux of 154.18 L·m⁻²·h⁻¹ for PES/PSPMA membrane found substantially greater than pure PES membrane (103.52 L·m⁻²·h⁻¹) along with Total Fouling Ratio (TFR) of 36% and 64.9% respectively. Exceptional antimicrobial efficacy for modified membranes is revealed against Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) using disc diffusion technique rendering them well-suited for water treatment applications.     

抗污染高分子分离膜研究进展

高分子分离膜已广泛应用于水处理、食品、生物医药等领域。然而,常用的膜材料如聚醚砜(PES)、聚砜(PSf)、聚偏氟乙烯(PVDF)等容易吸附蛋白质和微生物形成膜污染,进而影响膜的性能和使用寿命。膜污染尤其是膜的生物污染成为限制膜广泛应用的主要瓶颈之一。本文从亲水改性、抗菌改性及亲水抗菌双功能改性三方面综述了控制膜污染的研究进展和现状,并对其未来发展方向进行了展望。     

Preparation and characterization of TiO2/Pebax/(PSf‐PES) thin film nanocomposite membrane for humic acid removal from water

New thin film composite (TFC) membrane was prepared via coating of Pebax on PSf‐PES blend membrane as support, and its application in wastewater treatment was investigated. To modify this membrane, hydrophilic TiO₂ nanoparticles were coated on its surface at different loadings via dip coating technique. The as‐prepared membrane was characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), field emission SEM, and contact angle analysis. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis and surface SEM images indicated that TiO₂ was successfully coated on the membrane surface. In addition, the results stated that the hydrophilicity and roughness of membrane surface increased by addition of TiO₂ nanoparticles. Performance of TFC and modified TFC membranes was evaluated through humic acid removal from aqueous solution. Maximum permeate flux and humic acid rejection were obtained at 0.03 and 0.01 wt% TiO₂ loadings, respectively. Rejection was enhanced from 96.38% to 98.92% by the increase of feed concentration from 10 to 30 ppm. Additionally, membrane antifouling parameters at different pressures and feed concentration were determined. The results indicated that surface modification of membranes could be an effective method for improvement of membrane antifouling property.     

纳滤膜的研究进展

纳滤膜是一种新型分离膜,其截流分子量介于反渗透膜和超滤膜之间,且对无机盐有一定的截流率。国内外纳滤膜制备方法有L-S相转化法、复合法、荷电化法和无机改性等。纳滤膜研究中存在着膜通量小、膜制作成本较高及抗污染性差等问题,因此选择和制备纳滤膜的材料,优化纳滤技术水处理工艺设计,提高纳滤性能,降低制膜成本,减轻膜污染等已成为当今科学研究的重要课题。     

Thermo-responsive and antifouling PVDF nanocomposited membranes based on PNIPAAm modified TiO2 nanoparticles

A novel hydrophilic nanocomposite additive(TiO2-g-PNIPAAm) was synthesized by the surface modification of titanium dioxide(TiO2) with N-isopropylacrylamide(NIPAAm) via "graft-from" technique. And the nanocomposite membrane of poly(vinylidene fluoride)(PVDF)/TiO2-g-PNIPAAm was fabricated by wet phase inversion. The graft degree was obtained by thermo-gravimetric analysis(TGA). Fourier transform infrared attenuated reflection spectroscopy(FTIR-ATR) and X-ray photoelectronic spectroscopy(XPS) characterization results suggested that TiO2-g-PNIPAAm nanoparticles segregated on membrane surface during the phase separation process. Scanning electron microscopy(SEM) was conducted to investigate the surface and cross-section of the modified membranes. The water contact angle measurements confirmed that TiO2-g-PNIPAAm nanoparticles endowed PVDF membranes better hydrophlilicity and thermo-responsive properties compared with those of the pristine PVDF membrane. The water contact angle decreased from 92.8° of the PVDF membrane to 61.2° of the nanocompostie membrane. Bovine serum albumin(BSA) static and dynamic adsorption experiments suggested that excellent antifouling properties of membranes was acquired after adding TiO2-gPNIPAAm. The maximum BSA adsorption at 40 °C was about 3 times than that at 23 °C. The permeation experiments indicated the water flux recover ratio and BSA rejection ratio were improved at different temperatures.     

Antifouling ultrafiltration membrane composed of polyethersulfone and sulfobetaine copolymer

A new random copolymer was synthesized by reacting hydrophilic N,N-dimethyl-N-methacryloxyethyl-N-(3-sulfopropyl) (DMMSA) with hydrophobic butyl methacrylate (BMA) through a conventional radical polymerization. The as-prepared sulfobetaine copolymer (DMMSA–BMA) was blended with polyethersulfone (PES) to fabricate antifouling ultrafiltration membrane for BSA separation. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis of blend membranes revealed concentration of sulfobetaine groups at the membrane surfaces that endowed the membrane with higher hydrophilicity and better antifouling property. For the membrane with 8.0 wt% DMMSA–BMA copolymer concentration (No. 5), irreversible fouling has been considerably reduced and the flux recovery rate of the blend membrane reached as high as 82.8%. Furthermore, the blend membrane could effectively resist BSA fouling in a wide pH range from 4.0 to 8.0.     

Hemocompatibility and ultrafiltration performance of PAN membranes surface‐modified by hyperbranched polyesters

Maleic anhydride was grafted onto a polyacrylonitrile (PAN) membrane surface via ultraviolet irradiation. Then, hyperbranched polyester, with varying numbers of hydroxyl end‐groups (H20, H30, and H40), was grafted onto the PAN membrane surface by the reaction of hydroxyl groups with anhydride groups of maleic anhydride. The modified membranes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, static water contact angle, and attenuated total reflectance‐Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy measurements. The modified membranes showed a higher water flux and better antifouling properties than pristine PAN membranes, and their hydrophilicity was significantly improved. Membrane biocompatibility was characterized by platelet adhesion, and the results indicate that the modified membranes exhibited good biocompatibility. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

紫外接枝聚合聚乙二醇甲基丙烯酸甲酯制备抗污染聚砜超滤膜

以二苯甲酮(BP)为紫外引发剂,将聚乙二醇甲基丙烯酸甲酯(PEGMA)接枝在聚砜超滤膜表面以提高膜的抗污染性能.在二苯甲酮存在的条件下,波长较长(λ300nm)的紫外光(UV)辐射下发生提氢反应,可以有效防止聚砜分子主链的剪切,保持改性膜的分离性能.考察了PEGMA浓度、UV辐射时间和BP浓度对改性超滤膜接枝度、亲水性和抗污染性能的影响.用表面全反射红外光谱(ATR/FTIR)表征改性前后膜表面化学组成的变化.表面改性膜的纯水通量略有降低而牛血清白蛋白(BSA)截留率有所提高.随着接枝度的提高,PEGMA接枝改性膜的抗污染性能增加.     

Influence of diazonium-induced surface grafting on PES NF membrane fouling reduction in algal-rich water treatment

The algae bloom phenomenon incurs a major challenge to conventional drinking water treatment processes due to the discharges of a large amount of intracellular pollutant and odor compounds in the water sources. Membrane processes have been considered as promising technologies to treatment of algal-rich water due to complete algal cell rejection however, its application has been limited by membrane fouling. In this work, the high-performance loose antifouling PES NF membranes were fabricated using diazonium-induced grafting and applied for treating real algal effluent. The modified membranes exhibited complete algal dye removal and turbidity removal throughout the long-term filtration. Also, the coupling and radically modified membranes can be able to removed COD by up to 90% and 88%, respectively, while a removal efficiency of 24% was observed for bare membrane. It is worth noting that, a relative smooth behavior in permeate flux by loose modified membranes during prolonged algal dye filtration, demonstrating exceptional anti-fouling property of membranes. In addition, the fouled modified membranes were effectively recovered by water flushing. Both loose modified membranes exhibited excellent resistance in the strongly acidic environment. These high performance antifouling NF membranes affords an innovative methodology toward the treatment of algal-rich water.     

Enhancing the hydrophilic and antifouling properties of polypropylene nonwoven fabric membranes by the grafting of poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) via the ATRP method

In this work, the surface characteristics of poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) (PNVP)-modified nonwoven fabric (NWF) membranes and the effects of the surface characteristics on the membranes antifouling properties were investigated. Effects of grafting time, grafting temperature, and monomer concentration on the grafting degree of PNVP were systematically investigated. The effect of grafting degree on the surface characteristics was also investigated. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to characterize the structural and morphological changes on the membrane surface. The water contact angles decreased from 113±1.2° to 52±3°, which means that the hydrophilicity of the modified NWF was enhanced with increasing PNVP grafting degree. The surface free energy was calculated, which showed an increase after modification. Static bovine serum albumin (BSA) adsorption experiments were carried out, which showed a decrease of 82.5%. Permeation experiments of water and supernatant solution of active sludge were carried out to determine the antifouling characteristics against the extracellular polymeric substance. Results demonstrated that the modified NWF had higher permeation fluxes and lower flux loss in comparison with the original NWF. Bacterial adhesion on the membrane surface was largely suppressed after the introduction of PNVP.     

Development of urethane acrylate composite ion-exchange membranes and their electrochemical characterization

With the objective of introducing antifouling characteristics into interpolymer types of cation and anion exchange membranes, the surface of these membranes was coated with a 12-microm-thick urethane acrylate layer and was cured by UV radiation of wavelengths 308 and 172 nm under a complete inert atmosphere. Different urethane acrylate composite ion exchange membranes developed were characterized in NaCl solution by measuring their ion-exchange capacity, volume fraction of water, contact angle with water, membrane conductance, and membrane potential. It was found that the electrochemical transport properties of urethane acrylate composite cation-exchange membranes were increased due to resonance stabilization of the urethane group, which acts as a weak acid and dissociates as a negatively charged urethane ion and a positively charged proton. This contributes toward the net charge density of the membrane matrix responsible for enhanced selectivity and conductivity, while for urethane acrylate composite anion-exchange membranes reduction in net charge density was responsible for reduction in electrochemical transport properties. Counterion transport number, permselectivity, and counterion diffusion coefficient values for these membranes were also estimated. Experiments were also carried out in higher homologs of sodium carboxylate solutions in order to observe the fouling tendencies of these membranes. It was concluded that it is possible to obtain antifouling characteristics of ion-exchange membranes by coating and curing thin hydrophilic layers of urethane acrylate on their surfaces without sacrificing their electrochemical transport properties.     

Preparation of hydrophilic poly(vinylidene fluoride) membrane by in-situ grafting of N-vinyl pyrrolidone via a reactive vapor induced phase separation procedure

Increasing hydrophilicity of hydrophobic membrane is one of the strategies to improve its antifouling performance. Herein we report a procedure of reactive-vapor induced phase separation to prepare an N-vinyl pyrrolidone (NVP) modified poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membrane to improve its hydrophilicity. PVDF solution containing NVP monomer was cast in ammonia water vapor atmosphere to prepare the modified membrane. During the process, PVDF was dehydrofluorinated by the reactive vapor of ammonia water to generate double bond of FC═CH, and then NVP was grafted. The degree of grafting modification and the microstructure evolution of the membrane were studied by adjusting the amount of NVP addition. A possible mechanism of membrane formation from crystallization gelling to non-crystallization gelling has been proposed to understand the morphology change from nodular sphere to bi-continuous microstructure with fibril matrix. It has been found that rising the degree of modification has changed the polymorph of PVDF from β to α crystalline phase, as well as turned the hydrophobic PVDF membrane into hydrophilic. Moreover, the modified membrane displayed obvious reduction in bovine serum albumin adsorption, suggesting improvement in anti-fouling performance. Therefore, our work provides an easy strategy to prepare hydrophilic PVDF membrane, which may have promising potential applications.     

Hierarchical metal-phenolic-polyplex assembly toward superwetting membrane for high-flux and antifouling oil-water separation

Superwetting membranes have emerged as promising materials for the efficient treatment of oily wastewater. Typically, superwetting membranes can be developed by ingeniously chemical modification and topographical structuration of microporous membranes. Herein, we report the hierarchical assembly of metal-phenolic-polyplex coating to manipulate membrane surface superwettability by integrating metal-phenolic (Fe^III-tannic acid (TA)) assembly with polyplex (tannic acid-polyethylenimine (PEI)) assembly. The proposed Fe-TA-PEI coating can be deposited on microporous membrane via simply dipping into Fe^III-TA-PEI co-assembly solution. Based on the catechol chemistry, the coordination complexation of Fe^III and TA develops metal-phenolic networks to provide hydrophilic chemistries, and the electrostatic complexation of TA and PEI generates nanoconjugates to impart hierarchical architectures. Benefiting from the synergy of hydrophilic chemistries and hierarchical architectures, the resulting PVDF/Fe-TA-PEI membrane exhibits excellent superhydrophilicity (～0°), underwater superoleophobicity (～150°) and superior anti-oil-adhesion capability. The superhydrophilicity of PVDF/Fe-TA-PEI membrane greatly promotes membrane permeability, featuring water fluxes up to 5860 L m^?2 h^?1. The underwater superoleophobicity of PVDF/Fe-TA-PEI membrane promises potential flux (3393 L m^?2 h^?1), high separation efficiency (99.3%) and desirable antifouling capability for oil-in-water emulsion separation. Thus, we highlight the reported hierarchical metal-phenolic-polyplex assembly as a straightforward and effective strategy that enables the synchronous modulation of surface chemistry and topography toward superwetting membranes for promising high-flux and antifouling oil-water separation.     

Alteration of the morphology of polyvinylidene fluoride membrane by incorporating MOF-199 nanomaterials for improving water permeation with antifouling and antibacterial property

MOF-199@PVDF composite membranes are prepared by blending with different amounts of ultrasonic synthesized MOF-199 nanomaterials for improving the pure water flux (PWF) and achieving better antifouling and antibacterial performance. The membrane morphology, elemental composition, and surface properties are analyzed by various means of characterizations, including scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and water contact angle measurements. The performance of the modified membranes is also determined from the perspective of the PWF, bovine serum albumin rejection, as well as antifouling and antibacterial properties. Due to the variation in the viscosity of dope solution, the composite membranes possess remarkably different morphology, and the M5 membrane, which exhibited a sponge-like structure, the largest surface pore size, and the highest porosity, shows the highest PWF, reaching up to 185.05 L/m²h. Moreover, with the incorporation of MOF-199 nanocrystals, the antifouling property, together with the antibacterial property, toward both gram-negative bacteria and gram-positive bacteria, based on M5 and M7 membranes, increases dramatically compared with the pristine polyvinylidene fluoride membrane. In addition, the long-term permeation performance and copper leakage of the membrane are investigated. As a result, the composite membrane, M5, shows great potential in real water treatment.     

聚烯烃分离膜表面改性研究进展

综述了聚烯烃类分离膜表面改性研究的主要进展,着重介绍了高能辐射接枝、光引发接枝、等离子体接枝、表面臭氧处理、以及超临界CO2状态下接枝等表面改性方法的特点,分析了改性后聚烯烃膜的性能,并对聚烯烃分离膜表面改性进行了展望。     

微乳液聚合耦合共混法构建聚偏氟乙烯共混杂化膜

以苯乙烯和甲基丙烯酸甲酯混合物作为油相, 采用反相微乳液法制备了AgCl纳米粒子; 通过微乳液原位聚合油相单体得到包含AgCl纳米粒子的聚合乳液; 将聚合乳液与聚偏氟乙烯(PVDF)通过共混法构建了包含AgCl纳米粒子的PVDF共混杂化膜. 紫外-可见光谱、 透射电子显微镜(TEM)及扫描电子显微镜(SEM)等表征结果和超滤实验结果表明, 聚合乳液加入的同时引入了亲水性聚合物和表面亲水的AgCl纳米粒子, 不仅改善了PVDF共混杂化膜的孔隙率和平均孔径, 还显著增强了PVDF共混杂化膜的极性和亲水性, 最终提升了膜的水通量和抗污染性能; 过量聚合乳液加入后不能与PVDF材料均匀共混, 而且AgCl纳米粒子也会在膜中形成团聚物堵塞膜孔隙, 从而削弱了膜的水通量和抗污染性能.