Conor Braman presents his paper entitled, "Water transport and fouling properties of crosslinked poly(ethylene glycol)" at the 2004 North American Membrane Society (NAMS) meeting. Co-authors Conor Braman and Benny D. Freeman.
Abstract
All current ultrafiltration membranes are finely porous and are, therefore, subject to fouling by particulates, organics, and other wastewater components, resulting in a dramatic decline in the water flux (Ho 1999). Our approach to enhancing the severely limited fouling resistance of conventional ultrafiltration membranes is based on coating them with highly water permeable, nonporous, fouling resistant polymers. Crosslinked poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) is used as the base material for the coatings because it is highly hydrophilic and has shown resistance to protein attachment (Ostuni 2001).
UV-induced radical polymerization of PEG diacrylate (PEGDA), which contains 13 PEO units, and PEG acrylate (PEGA), which contains 7 PEO units, was used to prepare crosslinked PEG films. The composition of the initial polymerization mixture used was between 20/80 and 100/0 for (PEGDA +PEGA)/water, with the focus being on those samples prepared with higher initial water concentration.
Dense, free-standing films of crosslinked PEGDA appear to show a non-linear relationship between transmembrane pressure difference and flux, and the theoretical basis for this result will be discussed. To characterize the properties of PEG films in crossflow experiments, a composite crosslinked PEG membrane was prepared. This composite membrane consists of a porous membrane support and a thin, approximately one micron, dense coating of crosslinked PEGDA. An interfacial polymerization strategy was used to prepare a thin, uniform film at the membrane surface. Water transport and fouling properties of these composites have been characterized and will be described. The utility of these composites is shown by comparing their performance with that of uncoated porous ultrafiltration membranes.
Emanuele Ostuni, R. G. C., R. Erik Holmlin, Shuichi Takayama, and and G. M. Whitesides (2001). “A Survey of Structure-Property Relationships of Surfaces that Resist the Adsorption of Protein.” Langmuir (17): 5605-5620. Ho, C.-C. Z., A. L. (1999). “Effect of membrane morphology on the initial rate of protein fouling during microfiltration.” Journal of Membrane Science (155): 261-275.