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.     

Experimental study of ultrafiltration membrane fouling by sodium alginate and flux recovery by backwashing

Membrane fouling is the major limitation for a broader application of membrane technology. One of the main causes of membrane fouling in advanced wastewater reclamation and in membrane bioreactors (MBR) are the extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). Among the main constituents in EPS, polysaccharides are the most ubiquitous. This study aims at a better understanding of the fouling mechanisms of EPS and the efficiency of backwashing technique, which is applied in practice to restore membrane flux. For that purpose, the evolution of fouling by sodium alginate, a microbial polysaccharide, is studied in ultrafiltration. Fouling experiments are carried out in a single fiber apparatus, aiming at identifying the significance of distinct fouling mechanisms and their degree of reversibility by backwashing. An important parameter considered in the study is the concentration of calcium ions, which promote sodium alginate aggregation and influence the rate of flux decline, the reversibility of fouling and rejection. A rapid irreversible fouling takes place due to internal pore constriction, at the beginning of filtration, followed by cake development on the membrane surface. With increased calcium addition, cake development becomes the dominant mechanism throughout the filtration step. Furthermore, fouling reversibility is increased with the increase of calcium concentration. A unique behavior of sodium alginate solution in the absence of calcium is also noted, i.e. the formation of a labile layer on the membrane surface, which is affected by the small cross-flow that exists inside hollow fibers, even in the nominally dead-end mode of operation.     

抗污染PVA/PVDF电纺纳米纤维复合超滤膜的制备及过滤性能

以聚对苯二甲酸二醇酯(PET)无纺布为基底,聚偏氟乙烯(PVDF)纳米纤维为支撑层,聚乙烯醇(PVA)纳米纤维膜为分离层,采用静电纺丝法制备超滤膜,并用水/丙酮混合溶液对复合纳米纤维膜表面进行溶液处理,再加入戊二醛交联改性得到致密分离层.采用扫描电子显微镜(SEM)和红外光谱(FTIR)表征了复合超滤膜的表面,用水接触角(WCA)表征复合超滤膜的亲水性.在0.02 MPa恒压下死端过滤油/水乳液,测试复合超滤膜的过滤性能.结果表明,最优条件下制备的复合超滤膜死端过滤油/水乳液的通量为(42.50±4.78)L/(m~2·h),截留率达到(95.72±0.33)%;循环使用5次后,依然具有较好的过滤性能,常压下死端过滤复合超滤膜的纯水通量为(3469±28)L/(m~2·h).     

Rapid screening,identification, and purification of neuraminidase inhibitors from Lithospermum erythrorhizon Sieb.et Zucc. by ultrafiltration with HPLC–ESI‐TOF‐MS combined with semipreparative HPLC

We put forward an efficient strategy based on bioassay guidance for the rapid screening, identification, and purification of the neuraminidase inhibitors from traditional Chinese medicines, and apply to the discovery of anti‐influenza components from Lithospermiun erythrorhizon Sieb.et Zucc. Ultrafiltration with high‐performance liquid chromatography and electrospray ionization time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry was employed for the rapid screening and preliminarily identification of anti‐influenza components from Zicao. Semipreparative high‐performance liquid chromatography was used for the rapid separation and purification of the target compounds. NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and UV spectroscopy were used for further structural identification, and the activity of the compounds was verified by in vitro assay. Five compounds were found to have neuraminidase inhibitory activity by this method. Subsequently, the five compounds were separated by semipreparative high‐performance liquid chromatography with the purity over 98% for all of them by high‐performance liquid chromatography test. Combined with the NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and UV spectroscopy data, they were identified as alkannin, acetylalkannin, isobutyrylalkannin, β,β‐dimethylacryloylalkannin and isovalerylalkannin. The in vitro assay showed that all five compounds had good neuraminidase inhibitory activities. These results suggested that the method is highly efficient, and it can provide platform and methodology supports for the rapid discovery of anti‐influenza active ingredients from complex Chinese herbal medicines.     

A comparison between polysulfone,zirconia and organo-mineral membranes for use in ultrafiltration

In this paper, representative polymeric (a PSf/PVP membrane), ceramic (a ZrO₂ membrane) and organo-mineral (a ZrO₂/PSf membrane) ultrafiltration membranes, all in the tubular configuration, are being compared for their basic membrane properties, and for the typical ultrafiltration application of protein recovery of cheese whey. These three different membranes with a quite similar pore size (the cut-off values for each of the three membranes were comprised between 25 000 and 50 000 Dalton) showed pure water permeability coefficients between 135 and 1250 l/h m² bar. The highest pure water flux was found for the organo-mineral membrane, the lowest for the polymeric membrane. By FESEM analysis of the top-surfaces (skin) of both the PSf/PVP and the ZrO₂/PSf membrane a strong difference in surface-porosity was found. These results were claimed to partially explain the difference in pure water flux. From SEM pictures of the cross-section of the ZrO₂/PSf membrane it could also be seen that the skin layer thickness is smaller, at these places where particles are present near the skin-surface, compared to the rest of the membrane as well as to the skin of the PSf/PVP membrane. These latter observations were also used to further explain the flux difference between the PSf/PVP and the ZrO₂/PSf membrane.     

Fractionation of whey-derived peptides using a combination of ultrafiltration and nanofiltration

This paper describes the fractionation and further isolation and characterisation of peptides and proteins present in sweet whey by means of ultrafiltration using a regenerated cellulose membrane with a nominal molar mass cut-off value of 10 kg/mol and nanofiltration through sulphonated polyether sulphone membrane with a cut-off of 1 kg/mol. The concentration of whey proteins was done below the critical flux. The sieving coefficients for the whey components (proteins, lactose and salts) were estimated. Whey proteins were completely rejected by the ultrafiltration membrane. Size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionisation time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry were used to evaluate the molar masses of the peptide fractions that were present in the whey permeates. Nanofiltration of whey permeates obtained after ultrafiltration was conducted at two pH values (9.5 and 3.0) that corresponded to the different charged states of the membrane and of the peptides. The transmission of peptides, amino acids and lactose was found to be mainly affected by the permeability of the fouling layer. The selectivity of the nanofiltration membranes toward peptides compared to lactose was calculated as 0.82 and 6.81 at pH 9.5 and 3.0, respectively.     

Protein Separation with Flow-Through Chromatography

Proteins are isolated in the chemical process industries for a wide variety of uses. Isolation and separation are often conducted with chromatography. Conventional chromatography of proteins is often tedious and can suffer from poor efficiency and resolution. There is a well-known tradeoff between resolution and speed', Newer methods of protein chromatography seek to diminish the shortcomings of conventional methods. New methods are presently being investigated for process, preparative, and analytical applications.     

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.     

HPLC of phenylthiocarbamyol labelled uridine-diphosphate-hexosamine

Summary The biochemical functions of uridine-diphosphate-amino-sugar conjugates are largely unknown. As a first step to investigate their biological roles in glycolysis of higher organisms, bovine heart muscle, which metabolizes large quantities of glycogen, was assayed for uridine-diphosphate-hexosamine. A low molecular mass ultrafiltrate was prepared from the methanolsoluble fraction of a beef heart homogenate, and the fraction was further purified using anion-exchange and reverse-phase HPLC. Samples were analyzed by two HPLC methods; anion-exchange in borate buffer and reverse-phase ion-pair chromatography. One newly established technique employing phenylthiocarbamoyl labelled uridine-diphosphate-hexosamine also was used selectively to separate uridine-diphosphate-hexosamine from other uridine-diphosphate-sugars. Hydrolysate of purified sample was classified further according to molecular structure. As a result, phenylthiocarbamoyl labelled HPLC is suitable and easy for the detection of uridine-diphosphate-hexosamine and its derivatives.     

Polyphenylsulfone/multiwalled carbon nanotubes mixed ultrafiltration membranes: Fabrication,characterization and removal of heavy metals Pb2+, Hg2+, and Cd2+ from aqueous solutions

Polyphenylsulfone/multiwalled carbon nanotubes/polyvinylpyrrolidone/1-methyl-2-pyrrolidone mixed matrix ultrafiltration flat-sheet membranes were fabricated via phase inversion process to inspect the heavy metals separation efficacy from aqueous media. Fabricated membranes cross-sectional morphological changes and the topographical alterations were assessed with Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Particularly, MWCNTs assisted membranes exhibited better permeability ability as well as heavy metal removal enactment than virgin membrane. The dead-end filter unit was engaged in current research to examine the permeability and heavy metal removal competence of membranes. With the continuous enhancement of MWCNTs wt% in a polymer matrix, significant enhancement was observed with pure water flux study, from 41.69 L/m² h to >185 L/m² h as well as with the heavy metals separation study. Added additive MWCNTs can impact the pore sizes in membranes. The heavy metal separation results achieved, the membrane with 0.3 wt% of MWCNTs (PCNT-3) exhibited >98%, >76% and >72% for Pb²⁺, Hg²⁺ and Cd²⁺ ions, respectively. Overall, MWCNTs introduced PPSU membranes exposed best outcomes with heavy metals contained wastewater treatment.