Controlling the Rejection of Protein During Membrane Filtration by Adding Poly-Vinyl Pyrrolidone (PVP)

Abstract

Cellulose Acetate (CA) was blended with Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) to produce mixed matrix membranes. Diffusion induced phase separation technique was implemented for the synthesis of CA/PVP protein filtration membrane. The morphology, water permeation efficiencies and bovine serum albumin (BSA) rejection were studied to examine the influence of incorporating PVP in CA membranes. FTIR, contact angle and SEM were used to find out the surface morphology of membrane samples. SEM confirmed homogenous and significant mixing of PVP contents into pure CA matrix. Performance of blended membranes was measured in terms of water permeation and protein rejection percentage. The remarkable lessening of contact angle from 83° to 69° well illustrated the better hydrophilicity of CA/PVP membranes. All CA/PVP membranes rejected >90%. The hydrophilicity, water permeation and protein rejection % of CA membrane were improved by incorporation of 1% by weight PVP (M-1).