Separation and Purification Technology, Vol.162, 37-44, 2016
Polyurethane TFC nanofiltration membranes based on interfacial polymerization of poly(bis-MPA) and MDI on the polyethersulfone support
A new type of thin film composite (TFC) nanofiltration membranes was prepared based on a polyethersulfone (PES) support using interfacial polymerization of poly(bis-MPA) (Boltron (R)) and methylene diphenyl diisosyanate (MDI). The prepared TFC membranes were fully characterized using several techniques, including ATR-FTIR, SEM, AFM and water contact angle measurements. Nanofiltration performance of the prepared membranes was studied using determination of the water flux, and dye, salt, and transition metal rejections. The results clearly were indicated that solute rejection (dye, salt and transition metal) improved but water flux decreased with an increase of generation and/or concentration of the hyper branched polyester. Finally, anti-fouling properties of the membranes were also investigated by static protein adsorption studies. (c) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.