抗油污染α-纤维素中空纤维超滤膜油-水分离性能的研究

以α-纤维素为原料,一水合N-甲基吗琳-N-氧化物(NMMO.H2O)为溶剂,聚乙二醇(PEG400)为添加剂,去离子水为内外凝胶浴,采用浸入相转化法制备用于油水分离的中空纤维非对称超滤膜,并采用纯水通量表征了膜的性能.用纤维素中空纤维超滤膜进行油水分离实验,油水乳液的截留率可达到99%以上,渗透液含油量小于10 mg/L,达到国家环境保护排放要求.考察了物理清洗、物理清洗加0.1 mol/L HCL清洗、物理清洗加0.1 mol/L NaOH清洗3种清洗方法对油水污染后膜的清洗效果.其中,物理清洗加0.1 mol/LNaOH清洗的清洗方法的通量恢复率达到99%.与其它种类的膜相比,α-纤维素中空纤维膜的油水通量衰减率仅为9.5%,表现出优异的抗油污染性能.     

Development of enhanced ultrafiltration methodologies for the resolution of racemic benzoin

In the scope of achieving the separation of chiral molecules, enzyme enhanced ultrafiltration (EEUF), a new method based on polymer enhanced ultrafiltration (PEUF), utilizing apoenzymes as ligands, was developed. Benzoin was chosen as the model chiral molecule. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) and apo form of benzaldehyde lyase (BAL) (E.C. 4.1.2.38) were used as chiral ligands in PEUF and EEUF experiments, respectively. In order to bind to the target enantiomer well, the addition of ligand to the benzoin solution was followed by ultrafiltration. With the use of BSA as ligand, adaptation of PEUF for chiral target molecules and process parameter optimization was carried out; whereas, in EEUF studies the effect of ligand concentration was focused on. In PEUF experiments, although total benzoin retention values reached to 48.7% and 41.3% at pH 10, for 15% (v/v) PEG 400 and 30% (v/v) DMSO cosolvents, respectively; obtained enantiomeric excess (ee) % values were all less than 20%. In EEUF experiments, at BAL concentrations greater than 158 ppm, total benzoin retention and ee% remained constant at ca. 75% and 60%, respectively. On the other hand, at 61 ppm BAL concentration, total benzoin retention was kept at ca. 75%, but ee% decreased to ca. 30%, probably due to the nonspecific binding of benzoin to DNA and other proteins. Thus, the method developed enzyme enhanced ultrafiltration, functioned with its intended purpose effectively in chiral separation.     

Removal of divalent cations reduces fouling of ultrafiltration membranes

The effect of divalent ions on hydraulic irreversible fouling of ultrafiltration membranes was studied. Not only the effect of removing divalent ions by pretreatment of raw water with ion exchange is quantitatively studied, but also the effects of different types of backwash water are considered. By replacing divalent ions with sodium in cation exchange, the amount of hydraulic irreversible fouling (remaining fouling after backwashing) is reduced by at least 60%. When adding either calcium or magnesium to water treated with cation exchange, a linear relation is found between the ion concentration and the irreversible fouling rate. The effects of calcium and magnesium are identical when the concentrations are expressed in mol/L. Removing divalent ions from the backwash water does not affect irreversible fouling, but when using MilliQ water as backwash water, irreversible fouling can (almost) completely be prevented.     

A comparison of liquid–liquid porosimetry equations for evaluation of pore size distribution

This paper reviews and numerically tests many of the methods for the determination of pore size distribution of liquid membranes by liquid–liquid porosimetry. The flux through membranes was defined for flow of two immiscible liquids when drops or a liquid jet is formed, as well as the case when the interface is forced out by sufficient pressure. Several methods from literature for the determination of pore size distribution, some variations of these, and one new method are presented with a consistent theoretical basis. Using numerical tests it was found that all methods were very sensitive to measurement noise as low as ±0.1%, and that some form of data smoothing, such as a smoothing spline, was required to obtain a satisfactory distribution. The effects of elastic and permanent membrane compression were tested and a method was proposed to reduce the resulting error. A method based on the ratio of flux liquids with and without a liquid–liquid interface was recommended as it was less sensitive to the effects of compression in some cases and it provides a check when compression is not repeatable.     

Treatment of silk production wastewaters by membrane processes for sericin recovery

Sericin protein, although a valuable resource for many industries including cosmetics, pharmaceutical and biomedical, has been discarded as a waste in silk industry, causing environmental pollution. This paper describes determination of a membrane-based process for sericin recovery from cocoon cooking wastewaters (CCW) that will enable value-added utilization of waste sericin. The iso-electric point (pI) of sericin was found as 5–6, whose MW was distributed as 180–200, 70–80, 30–40 and 10–25 kDa. Prior to membrane filtration, sericin was separated from other impurities via centrifugation (CFG) followed by microfiltration (MF) in the pre-treatment stage, which also helped minimize post membrane fouling. Ultrafiltration (UF) and nanofiltration (NF) were adopted at a pH equal to pI of sericin. UF achieved partial recovery of sericin polypeptides at 37–60%, which was attributed to increased transmission of uncharged sericin polypeptides at their pI. On the other hand, NF achieved sericin recovery as high as 94–95%, containing all MW fractions. Severe flux decline was the major problem due to protein–membrane interactions and high sericin concentrations, where concentration polarization mainly had a dominant effect. Although flux declines were as high as 58–88% in UF and 70–75% in NF, flux recovery by at least 83% was achieved by chemical cleaning using NaOH and free chlorine.     

Hollow fiber ultrafiltration: The concept of partial backwashing

In dead-end hollow fiber filtration with humic acid solutions, we observed that the humic material accumulates in the final part of the fiber. We proved the hypothesis that backwashing of the last part of the fiber is sufficient to operate the filtration process in a sustainable manner. This strategy works very well for feed solutions that result in either local accumulation of the material at the end of the fiber, or that form a well-defined concentration polarization layer that does not lead to deposition. When deposition throughout the whole module occurs, the proposed cleaning strategy is unsuccessful. This overall deposition occurs when a force balance over the particle, results in net transport to the membrane surface over the entire length of the module. We simulated such conditions by the addition of calcium to the feed solutions. The latter results in large aggregates carried towards the whole membrane area by convective water flow, and an increased interaction between the aggregates and the membrane.     

Enhancing the antifouling property of polyethersulfone ultrafiltration membranes through surface adsorption-crosslinking of poly(vinyl alcohol)

An adsorption-crosslinking process of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) was introduced to modify the surface of polyethersulfone (PES) ultrafiltration membranes for enhancement of their antifouling property. XPS and water contact angle measurement confirmed the obvious enhancement of surface hydrophilicity. Ultrafiltration results showed that the spreading of PVA chains over the hydrophobic membrane surface caused substantial but acceptable decrease on membrane flux. The fouling type analysis indicated that PVA adsorption effectively improved the antifouling property of PES membranes. With a PVA concentration of 0.5 wt% and three cycles of alternative adsorption-crosslinking, the total and irreversible fouling ratio of modified membranes were 0.38 and 0.22, respectively, much lower than those of control PES membrane (0.61 and 0.47), and the flux recovery ratio was increased accordingly. The long-term ultrafiltration experiment demonstrated the improvement of recycling property and the reliability of adsorption-crosslinking process.     

CELLULOSE ACETATE AND EPOXY RESIN BLEND ULTRAFILTRATION MEMBRANES: REPARATION,CHARACTERIZATION, AND APPLICATION

ABSTRACT

Membranes based on cellulose acetate used in ultrafiltration applications lack good, chemical, mechanical and thermal resistance. In order to prepare membranes with improved properties, modification of cellulose acetate with epoxy resin through solution blending was attempted. In the present work, the membrane casting solutions with different polymer blend compositions of cellulose acetate and diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A (DGEBA) were prepared at 30±2°C. The maximum percent compatibility of the two polymers, cellulose acetate and diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A, was estimated to be 60/40%. Ultrafiltration blend membranes based on various blend compositions were prepared, characterized in terms of compaction, pure water flux, water content, membrane hydraulic resistance and molecular weight cut-off. The application of these membranes, in rejection of proteins of various molecular weights, are discussed.     

Analysis of concentration polarization phenomenon in ultrafiltration under turbulent flow conditions

An ultrafiltration data set previously reported by Gekas and Olund is used to test three concentration polarization models. The data consist of testing eight ultrafiltration membranes representing different polymer materials and molecular weight cut-offs with 0.5 wt% Dextran T10 at 25°C and 0.5 MPa under turbulent flow conditions. The tested concentration polarization models include the modified film theory model, the original film theory model and the Sherwood correlation model. The Chilton-Colburn analogy is the common foundation of the these models.