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Antifouling microfiltration membrane filter based on acetylated cellulose ether using vapor-induced phase separation

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Abstract

Bio-based polymers and their derivatives are promising green alternatives to petroleum-based polymers in the preparation of membranes. In this study, we developed microfiltration membranes based on acetylated cellulose ether (ACE), a high-molecular-weight cellulose-derived biopolymer, using vapor-induced phase separation. The properties of these membranes were analyzed and compared with those of a commercial cellulose acetate (CA) membrane. The pore sizes and pore distributions of the ACE membranes were controlled by the polyethylene glycol additives used in the preparation of the membranes. The ACE membranes with pore sizes of 0.20–0.53 μm were effective in removing Escherichia coli bacteria, demonstrating their viability in sterilization applications. The ACE membrane also exhibited high pure water permeance values (25,000 L m−2 h−1 bar−1) and lower non-specific protein binding compared to those of the commercial CA membrane. We believe that our study findings will promote the use of bio-based ACE membranes in commercial applications.

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Funding

This study was supported by the Development of Next-Generation Biorefinery Platform Technologies for Leading Bio-Based Chemicals Industry Project [Grant Number NRF-2022M3J5A1056072] and the Development of an Integrated Process to Produce Lignocellulosic Biomass-Derived Fermentable Sugars for Next-Generation Biorefinery Project [Grant Number NRF-2022M3J5A1056173] of the National Research Foundation supported by the Korean Ministry of Science and ICT. This study was also supported by the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT, South Korea) through the core program [Grant Number KS2342-10].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center for Bio-Based Chemistry, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), Ulsan, 44429, Republic of Korea

    Eun-Bi Kim, Myung-Jun Lee, Dahee Kim, Jae-Chang Lee & Suwan Myung

  2. Department of Energy Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, 04763, Republic of Korea

    Eun-Bi Kim

  3. Department of Urban and Environmental Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan, 44919, Republic of Korea

    Myung-Jun Lee & Young-Nam Kwon

  4. Research Center for Green Carbon, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, Daejeon, 34114, Republic of Korea

    Hye-Jin Lee & In-Chul Kim

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  1. Eun-Bi Kim
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Contributions

All authors read and approved the final manuscript. E-BK: Writing—original draft, methodology, visualization. M-JL: Writing—original draft, methodology, visualization. DK: Methodology, visualization. J-CL: Conceptualization, H-JL: Methodology, visualization. I-CK: Conceptualization. Y-NK: Writing—review and editing. SM: Writing—original draft, writing—review and editing, supervision.

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Correspondence to Suwan Myung.

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Kim, EB., Lee, MJ., Kim, D. et al. Antifouling microfiltration membrane filter based on acetylated cellulose ether using vapor-induced phase separation. Cellulose 31, 479–495 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-023-05650-6

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