De Sneha, Heer Jonathan, Sankar Suwetha, Geiger Fabian, Gukelberger Ephraim, Galiano Francesco, Mancuso Raffaella, Gabriele Bartolo, Figoli Alberto, Hoinkis Jan
Center of Applied Research (CAR), Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences (HKA), Moltkestrasse 30, 76133 Karlsruhe, Germany.
Laboratory of Industrial and Synthetic Organic Chemistry (LISOC), Department of Chemistry and Chemical Technology (CTC), University of Calabria, Via P. Bucci 12/C, 87036 Rende, CS, Italy.
Membranes (Basel). 2023 Nov 29;13(12):893. doi: 10.3390/membranes13120893.
The low-fouling propensity of commercially available polyethersulfone (PES) membranes was studied after modification of the membrane surface via coating with polymerizable bicontinuous microemulsion (PBM) materials. The PBM coating was polymerized within 1 min using ultraviolet (UV) light exposure. It was detected on the PES membrane surface via attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy. The PBM coating led to an average 10% increase in the hydrophilicity of the PES membrane surface and an increase in total organic content (TOC) removal by more than 15%. Flux-step tests were conducted with model foulant comprising 100 mg L humic acid (HA) solution to detect the onset of critical fouling, characterized by a rapid and substantial increase in TMP, and to compare the fouling propensity of commercially available PES membranes with PBM-coated membranes. The critical flux was found to be about 40% higher for PBM spray-coated membrane and 20% lower for PBM casting-coated membrane than the commercial PES membrane. This demonstrates the performance advantages of the thin PBM layer spray-coated on PES membrane compared to the thick casting-coated PBM layer. The study showcases the potential of PBM spray-coated membranes over commercial PES membranes for use in membrane bioreactors (MBR) for wastewater treatment systems with reduced maintenance over longer operation periods.
通过用可聚合双连续微乳液（PBM）材料涂覆来修饰膜表面后，研究了市售聚醚砜（PES）膜的低污染倾向。使用紫外线（UV）照射在1分钟内使PBM涂层聚合。通过衰减全反射傅里叶变换红外（ATR-FTIR）光谱在PES膜表面检测到该涂层。PBM涂层使PES膜表面的亲水性平均提高了10%，总有机碳（TOC）去除率提高了15%以上。用含有100 mg/L腐殖酸（HA）溶液的模拟污垢物进行通量阶跃测试，以检测临界污垢的开始（其特征是跨膜压差（TMP）迅速大幅增加），并比较市售PES膜与PBM涂层膜的污染倾向。发现PBM喷涂膜的临界通量比商业PES膜高约40%，PBM浇铸涂层膜的临界通量比商业PES膜低20%。这证明了与厚的浇铸涂层PBM层相比，喷涂在PES膜上的薄PBM层的性能优势。该研究展示了PBM喷涂膜相对于商业PES膜在膜生物反应器（MBR）中用于废水处理系统的潜力，可在更长的运行周期内减少维护。
