Effect of PVP content and polymer concentration on polyetherimide (PEI) and polyacrylonitrile (PAN) based ultrafiltration membrane fabrication and characterization

Abstract

In this study, four different membranes were fabricated by using polyetherimide and polyacrylonitrile polymers, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) via phase inversion method to improve the membrane performance in fruit juice wastewater (FJWW) treatment. The addition of PVP to the casting solution increased membrane hydrophilicity, water content, contact angle, porosity, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy peaks, membrane thickness, average roughness and viscosity of cast solutions compared to the bare membrane. It can be said that the addition of a lower polymer concentration and PVP intensively increases the pure water flux of the membrane. However, as the flux increased, a small decrease in FJWW rejection was observed.