MembranesPub Date : 2025-03-20DOI: 10.3390/membranes15030095
Ziyuan Gao, Le Xu, Hongxia Wang, Xin Wei, Kaikai Chen, Wenyu Wang, Suzhen Zhang, Tong Lin
{"title":"Thermal Lamination of Electrospun Nanofiber Membrane with Woven Fabric and Yarn Embedding Effect.","authors":"Ziyuan Gao, Le Xu, Hongxia Wang, Xin Wei, Kaikai Chen, Wenyu Wang, Suzhen Zhang, Tong Lin","doi":"10.3390/membranes15030095","DOIUrl":"10.3390/membranes15030095","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study investigated the effectiveness of two lamination methods for integrating electrospun nanofiber membranes with woven nylon fabric for personal protective applications. The first method used a thermoplastic urethane (TPU) nonwoven adhesive, while the second method incorporated both the adhesive and a yarn, with the yarn embedding by sewing. Lamination with the TPU nonwoven adhesive slightly improved the adhesion between the nanofiber membrane and the nylon fabric. However, it decreased the air permeability, with the degree of the decrease depending on the areal density of the TPU adhesive. As the areal density of the TPU increased from 10 g/m<sup>2</sup> to 30 g/m<sup>2</sup>, the air permeability decreased from 107.6 mm/s to 43.4 mm/s. The lamination resulted in a slight increase in the filtration efficiency for oil aerosol particles (0.3 µm, PM0.3, at a flow rate of 32 L/min) to 96.4%, with a pressure drop of 83 Pa. Embedding non-fusible yarns in the laminate increased the nanofiber/fabric adhesion and permeability. Still, the filtration efficiency and pressure drop were reduced to 74.4% and 38 Pa, respectively, due to numerous pinholes formed in the nanofiber layer during the sewing process. Conversely, incorporating fusible TPU yarns not only improved the interlayer adhesion by 175% compared to using TPU fabric adhesive alone but also increased the air permeability to 136.1 mm/s. However, the filtration performance (87.7%, 72 Pa) was slightly lower than that of the unlaminated nanofiber/fabric pack because the TPU yarns sealed the pinholes during lamination. Lamination embedded with hot-melt yarns provides a versatile approach for combining nanofiber membranes with conventional fabrics. It can be used to develop nanofiber-functionalized textiles for a wide range of applications, including fire protection, electrical insulation, sound absorption, filtration, marine applications, and more.</p>","PeriodicalId":18410,"journal":{"name":"Membranes","volume":"15 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11944164/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143710525","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
MembranesPub Date : 2025-03-17DOI: 10.3390/membranes15030094
Yasushi Maeda
{"title":"Fouling of Reverse Osmosis (RO) and Nanofiltration (NF) Membranes by Low Molecular Weight Organic Compounds (LMWOCs), Part 2: Countermeasures and Applications.","authors":"Yasushi Maeda","doi":"10.3390/membranes15030094","DOIUrl":"10.3390/membranes15030094","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Fouling, particularly from organic fouling and biofouling, poses a significant challenge in the RO/NF treatment of marginal waters, especially wastewater. Part 1 of this review detailed LMWOC fouling mechanisms. Part 2 focuses on countermeasures and applications. Effective fouling prevention relies on pretreatment, early detection, cleaning, optimized operation, and in situ membrane modification. Accurate fouling prediction is crucial. Preliminary tests using flat-sheet membranes or small-diameter modules are recommended. Currently, no specific fouling index exists for LMWOC fouling. Hydrophobic membranes, such as polyamide, are proposed as alternatives to the standard silt density index (SDI) filter. Once LMWOC fouling potential is assessed, suitable pretreatment methods can be implemented. These include adsorbents, specialized water filters, oxidative decomposition, and antifoulants. In situations where pretreatment is impractical, alternative strategies like high pH operation might be considered. Membrane cleaning becomes necessary upon fouling; however, standard cleaning often fails to fully restore the original flow. Specialized CIP chemicals, including organic solvent-based and oxidative agents, are required. Conversely, LMWOC fouling typically leads to a stabilized flow rate reduction rather than a continuous decline. Aggressive cleaning may be avoided if the resulting operating pressure increase is acceptable. When a significant flow rate drop occurs and LMWOC fouling is suspected, analysis of the fouled membrane is necessary for identification. Standard FT-IR often fails to detect LMWOCs. Solvent extraction followed by GC-MS is required. Pyrolysis GC-MS, which eliminates the extraction step, shows promise. The review concludes by examining how LMWOCs can be strategically utilized to enhance membrane rejection and restore deteriorated membranes.</p>","PeriodicalId":18410,"journal":{"name":"Membranes","volume":"15 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11943549/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143710508","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
MembranesPub Date : 2025-03-14DOI: 10.3390/membranes15030093
Youkang Jin, Lei Wang, Jinpeng Bi, Wei Zhao, Hui Zhang, Yuexia Lv, Xi Chen
{"title":"Simulation of Carbon Dioxide Absorption in a Hollow Fiber Membrane Contactor Under Non-Isothermal Conditions.","authors":"Youkang Jin, Lei Wang, Jinpeng Bi, Wei Zhao, Hui Zhang, Yuexia Lv, Xi Chen","doi":"10.3390/membranes15030093","DOIUrl":"10.3390/membranes15030093","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>CO<sub>2</sub> capture by membrane gas absorption technology has been considered a promising alternative to mitigate or stabilize atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> concentrations. The non-isothermal nature of the CO<sub>2</sub> absorption process in hollow fiber membrane contactors is a critical factor that significantly influences CO<sub>2</sub> removal performance. In the present study, a non-isothermal mathematical model and a two-dimensional computational simulation were carried out to evaluate the CO<sub>2</sub> separation by three typical absorbents in a polyvinylidene fluoride hollow fiber membrane contactor under non-wetting operation mode. The simulation results exhibited good matching with the published experimental data with the deviations in the range of lower than 5%, which validated the reliability of the developed numerical model. A significant temperature increase ranging from 2 to 15 K was observed along the length of the hollow fiber membrane contactor, which further facilitated the absorption and reaction process in this study. The results showed that potassium glycinate exhibited the highest absorption capacity, followed by monoethanolamine and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium. In addition, the mass transfer could be enhanced by increasing the liquid flow rate, absorbent concentration, module length, and membrane porosity, while increasing the gas velocity and CO<sub>2</sub> inlet concentration were unfavorable for the CO<sub>2</sub> removal process.</p>","PeriodicalId":18410,"journal":{"name":"Membranes","volume":"15 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11943986/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143710444","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
MembranesPub Date : 2025-03-14DOI: 10.3390/membranes15030092
Esperanza Guerrero-Hurtado, Alba Gutiérrez-Docio, Rebeca Fiedorowicz, Marin Prodanov
{"title":"Fractionation of a Procyanidin-Rich Grape Seed Extract by a Preparative Integrated Ultrafiltration/Reverse Osmosis/Solid-Phase Extraction Procedure.","authors":"Esperanza Guerrero-Hurtado, Alba Gutiérrez-Docio, Rebeca Fiedorowicz, Marin Prodanov","doi":"10.3390/membranes15030092","DOIUrl":"10.3390/membranes15030092","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The consumption of grape seed extracts is known for its contribution to animal and human health and is associated with its relevant procyanidin content. However, there is a little scientific unanimity whether these properties are due to the procyanidin content or to the length of their polymers. The main reason for this doubt is the technical difficulties related to their separation. Therefore, a preparative separation of grape seed extract was carried out using an integrated ultra/diafiltration procedure with membranes of 300, 30, 5, and 1 kDa molecular mass cut-offs, reverse osmosis and solid-phase extraction to obtain fractions of very high (>300 kDa), high (300-30 kDa), intermediate (30-5 kDa), low molecular mass (5-1 kDa), very-low-mass polar molecules and ions (<1 kDa), and very-low-mass dipole molecules (<1 kDa). Process parameters, mass transfer across the membranes and the quality of separation of each fraction are described and discussed in depth. A high degree of purification was achieved for the higher-molecular-mass fractions (>300, 300-30, and 30-5 kDa), as well as the big majority of procyanidin polymers and oligomers from very-low-molecular-mass species. All fractions were characterized for their procyanidin content by normal phase high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to a photodiode array detector (NP-HPLC-PAD). This analytical technique has shown for the first time that not only do oligomeric procyanidins elute at an increasing order of elution, but polymeric ones also do the same.</p>","PeriodicalId":18410,"journal":{"name":"Membranes","volume":"15 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11944240/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143710511","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Comparison of Different Polymeric Membranes in Direct Contact Membrane Distillation and Air Gap Membrane Distillation Configurations.","authors":"Cristiane Raquel Sousa Mesquita, Abdul Orlando Cárdenas Gómez, Carolina Palma Naveira Cotta, Renato Machado Cotta","doi":"10.3390/membranes15030091","DOIUrl":"10.3390/membranes15030091","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Membrane distillation (MD) is an evolving thermal separation technique most frequently aimed at water desalination, compatible with low-grade heat sources such as waste heat from thermal engines, solar collectors, and high-concentration photovoltaic panels. This study presents a comprehensive theoretical-experimental evaluation of three commercial membranes of different materials (PE, PVDF, and PTFE), tested for two distinct MD modules-a Direct Contact Membrane Distillation (DCMD) module and an Air Gap Membrane Distillation (AGMD) module-analyzing the impact of key operational parameters on the performance of the individual membranes in each configuration. The results showed that increasing the feed saline concentration from 7 g/L to 70 g/L led to distillate flux reductions of 12.2% in the DCMD module and 42.9% in the AGMD one, averaged over the whole set of experiments. The increase in feed temperature from 65 °C to 85 °C resulted in distillate fluxes up to 2.36 times higher in the DCMD module and 2.70 times higher in the AGMD one. The PE-made membrane demonstrated the highest distillate fluxes, while the PVDF and PTFE membranes exhibited superior performance under high-salinity conditions in the AGMD module. Membranes with high contact angles, such as PTFE with 143.4°, performed better under high salinity conditions. Variations in operational parameters, such as flow rate and temperature, markedly affect the temperature and concentration polarization effects. The analyses underscored the necessity of a careful selection of membrane type for each distillation configuration by the specific characteristics of the process and its operational conditions. In addition to experimental findings, the proposed heat and mass transfer-reduced model showed good agreement with experimental data, with deviations within ±15%, effectively capturing the influence of operational parameters. Theoretical predictions showed good agreement with experimental data, confirming the model's validity, which can be applied to optimization methodologies to improve the membrane distillation process.</p>","PeriodicalId":18410,"journal":{"name":"Membranes","volume":"15 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11943998/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143710412","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
MembranesPub Date : 2025-03-10DOI: 10.3390/membranes15030089
Weihua Mu
{"title":"Adhesive Force Between Biconcave Red Blood Cell Membrane and Bulk Substrate.","authors":"Weihua Mu","doi":"10.3390/membranes15030089","DOIUrl":"10.3390/membranes15030089","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Adhesion between a red blood cell and substrates is essential to many biophysical processes and has significant implications for medical applications. This study derived a theoretical formula for the adhesive force between a red blood cell and a bulk substrate, incorporating the Hamaker constant to account for van der Waals interactions. The derivation is based on a biconcave shape of an RBC, described by the well-known Ouyang-Helfrich equation and its analytical solution developed by Ouyang. The theoretical predictions align with experimental observations and the empirical spherical model, revealing a F∝D-2.5 relationship for biconcave RBCs versus F∝D-2 for spheres. While the current study focuses on idealized geometries and static conditions, future work will extend these findings to more complex environmental conditions, such as dynamic flow and interactions with plasma proteins, thereby broadening the applicability of the model. This work bridges foundational research in cell membrane mechanics with practical applications in hemostatic materials, platelet adhesion, and biomaterials engineering. The findings provide insights for designing advanced biological sensors, surgical tools, and innovative medical materials with enhanced biocompatibility and performance.</p>","PeriodicalId":18410,"journal":{"name":"Membranes","volume":"15 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11944040/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143710019","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
MembranesPub Date : 2025-03-10DOI: 10.3390/membranes15030090
Yue Lu, Xuan Xing, Yi Jiang, Jianxin Xia
{"title":"Fabrication of a Novel PES/CNTs@TiO<sub>2</sub> Membrane Combining Photo-Electrocatalysis and Filtration for Organic Pollutant Removal.","authors":"Yue Lu, Xuan Xing, Yi Jiang, Jianxin Xia","doi":"10.3390/membranes15030090","DOIUrl":"10.3390/membranes15030090","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Membrane filtration has been widely used in wastewater treatment; contaminants attached to the membrane surface led to flux loss and service life reduction. In the present study, a photo-electrocatalysis membrane was fabricated with CNTs@TiO<sub>2</sub> deposited on a commercial polyethersulfone (PES) membrane (PES/CNTs@TiO<sub>2</sub>). XRD and SEM characterization proved that the CNTs@TiO<sub>2</sub> composites were successfully fabricated using the one-pot hydrothermal method. Additionally, vacuum filtration was used to distribute the as-prepared powder on the PES membrane. In CNTs@TiO<sub>2</sub>, TiO<sub>2</sub> particles were deposited on the outer layer of CNTs, which benefits light adsorption and photocatalytic reaction. The hydrophilicity, light absorption ability, and electron transfer rate of the PES/CNTs@TiO<sub>2</sub> membrane were enhanced compared with the pristine PES membranes. Organic compound removal was improved in the photo-electrocatalysis filtration system with the improvement of 32.41% for methyl orange (MO), 26.24% for methyl blue (MB), 7.86% for sulfamethoxazole (SMZ), and 25.19% for florfenicol (FF), respectively. Moreover, the hydrophilicity and removal rate could be restored after pure water cleaning, demonstrating excellent reusability. The quenching experiment showed that ·OH and ·O<sub>2</sub><sup>-</sup> were the main reactive oxygen species. This work provides a convenient form of photo-electrocatalysis filtration technology using modified commercial membranes, which has great potential for practical application.</p>","PeriodicalId":18410,"journal":{"name":"Membranes","volume":"15 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11943504/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143710504","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Analysis of CO<sub>2</sub> Absorption in Gas/Liquid Membrane Contactors with Inserted Descending Hydraulic Diameters of 3D-Printed Turbulence Promoters.","authors":"Chii-Dong Ho, Yi-Wun Wang, Zheng-Zhong Chen, Thiam Leng Chew","doi":"10.3390/membranes15030088","DOIUrl":"10.3390/membranes15030088","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The decline in absorption flux across membrane modules is attributed to the increase in concentration polarization resistance in flat-plate membrane contactors for CO<sub>2</sub> absorption using monoethanolamine (MEA) as the absorbent. Researchers have discovered that this effect can be mitigated by inserting turbulence promoters, which enhance turbulence intensity at the cost of increased power consumption, thereby improving CO<sub>2</sub> absorption flux. The performance of flat-plate membrane contactors for CO<sub>2</sub> absorption was further enhanced by reducing the hydraulic diameters of embedded 3D-printed turbulence promoters, considering the increased power consumption. The mass-balance modeling, incorporating chemical reactions, was developed theoretically and conducted experimentally on a flat-plate gas/liquid polytetrafluoroethylene/polypropylene (PTFE/PP) membrane module in the present study. A one-dimensional theoretical analysis, based on the resistance-in-series model and the plug-flow model, was conducted to predict absorption flux and concentration distributions. An economic analysis was also performed on modules with promoter-filled channels, considering different array configurations and geometric shapes of turbulence promoters, weighing both absorption flux improvement and power consumption increment. Device performances were evaluated and compared with those of modules using uniform promoter widths. Additionally, the Sherwood number for the CO<sub>2</sub> membrane absorption module was generalized into a simplified expression to predict the mass transfer coefficient for modules with inserted 3D-printed turbulence promoters. Results showed that the ratio of absorption flux improvement to power consumption increment in descending hydraulic-diameter operations is higher than in uniform hydraulic-diameter operations.</p>","PeriodicalId":18410,"journal":{"name":"Membranes","volume":"15 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11944136/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143710202","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
MembranesPub Date : 2025-03-08DOI: 10.3390/membranes15030086
Harpreet Sondhi, Mingliang Chen, Michiel Pieter Nijboer, Arian Nijmeijer, Fred Roozeboom, Mikhael Bechelany, Alexey Kovalgin, Mieke Luiten-Olieman
{"title":"Ceramic Nanofiltration Membranes: Creating Nanopores by Calcination of Atmospheric-Pressure Molecular Layer Deposition Grown Titanicone Layers.","authors":"Harpreet Sondhi, Mingliang Chen, Michiel Pieter Nijboer, Arian Nijmeijer, Fred Roozeboom, Mikhael Bechelany, Alexey Kovalgin, Mieke Luiten-Olieman","doi":"10.3390/membranes15030086","DOIUrl":"10.3390/membranes15030086","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Ceramic membrane technology, whether applied as a stand-alone separation technology or in combination with energy-intensive approaches like distillation, is a promising solution for lower energy alternatives with minimal carbon footprints. To improve the separation of solutes in the nanofiltration range from industrial wastewater streams, ceramic nanofiltration (NF) membranes with reproducible sub-nanometre pore sizes are required. To achieve this, the emerging technique of molecular layer deposition (MLD) is employed to develop ceramic NF membranes, and its efficiency and versatility make it a powerful tool for preparing uniform nanoscale high-porosity membranes. Our work, which involved vapor-phase titanium tetrachloride as a precursor and ethylene glycol as a co-reactant, followed by calcination in air at 350 °C, resulted in NF membranes with pore sizes (radii) around ~0.8 ± 0.1 nm and a demineralized water permeability of 13 ± 1 L·m<sup>-2</sup>·h<sup>-1</sup>·bar<sup>-1</sup>.The high-water flux with >90% rejection of polyethylene glycol molecules with a molecular size larger than 380 ± 6 Dalton indicates the efficiency of the MLD technique in membrane functionalization and size-selective separation processes, and its potential for industrial applications.</p>","PeriodicalId":18410,"journal":{"name":"Membranes","volume":"15 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11943934/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143710275","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
MembranesPub Date : 2025-03-08DOI: 10.3390/membranes15030087
Muhammad Usman Yousaf, Lucca Madeo Cortarelli, Nerissa I Jebet, Jason M Unrine, Nirupam Aich, Olga V Tsyusko, Isabel C Escobar
{"title":"Characterization, Performance, and Toxicological Assessment of Polysulfone-Sulfonated Polyether Ether Ketone Membranes for Water Separation Applications.","authors":"Muhammad Usman Yousaf, Lucca Madeo Cortarelli, Nerissa I Jebet, Jason M Unrine, Nirupam Aich, Olga V Tsyusko, Isabel C Escobar","doi":"10.3390/membranes15030087","DOIUrl":"10.3390/membranes15030087","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The removal of small molecular weight charged compounds from aqueous solutions using membrane remains a challenge. In this study, polysulfone (PSf)- and sulfonated polyether ether ketone (SPEEK)-based membranes were fabricated via non-solvent induced phase separation process (NIPS) using N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone (NMP) as solvent and water as non-solvent. Membranes were characterized structurally and morphologically, followed by toxicity assessment conducted before and after filtration, both with and without annealing at various pH values to evaluate potential leaching of trapped solvent from the membrane pores. Additionally, membrane performance was characterized using binary mixtures of cationic and anionic dyes. The results demonstrated selective filtration behavior, with cationic dyes being preferentially rejected due to size exclusion and electrostatic interactions. Additionally, a key focus of this work was the investigation of solvent leaching, framed within a Safe(r)-by-Design (SbD) approach aimed at enhancing functional performance while minimizing environmental toxicity. Toxicity assessments using a model organism, a nematode <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i>, revealed that annealing reduced solvent leaching and thus permeate toxicity, particularly at neutral pH values, by facilitating trapped solvent release prior to membrane use. These findings provide insights for the importance of including an SbD approach during membrane casting to fabricate membranes with desirable properties while minimizing toxicity.</p>","PeriodicalId":18410,"journal":{"name":"Membranes","volume":"15 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-03-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11943734/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143710297","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}