Preparation and Characterization of PA66/Alumina Composite Membrane

• Autor(a) principal: Biron,Dionisio da Silva
• Data de Publicação: 2015
• Outros Autores: Poletto,Patrícia, Duarte,Jocelei, Zeni,Mára, Bergmann,Carlos Pérez, Santos,Venina dos
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Materials research (São Carlos. Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-14392015000400748
• topic: composite membrane; PA66-α-alumina membrane; permeability

In this study, polymer/ceramic composite membranes were prepared and characterized. The polymer used was polyamide 66 (PA66) deposited by dip coating on the inner surface of α-alumina-based (Al2O3) microporous tube. A coating on the ceramic support surface and the formation of the selective layer was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in membranes with one (PA-1) and two layers (PA-2). The results of mercury porosimetry showed that the deposition of the polyamide layers decreases the average pore size. The PA-1 presented an average pore size of 0.35 μm, while the PA-2 presented two peaks of 0.18 and 0.56 μm. Both showed a superior performance than the ceramic support (pore diameter of 0.65 μm). Although, the permeate flux was higher with an impregnation membrane, the number of layers (one or two) just introduced a slight difference in pore statistical analysis. The order of rejection coefficient values for protein molecules is BSA > egg albumin > trypsin. The permeation tests showed that the composite membrane can be applied in ultrafiltration processes with MWCO of 69 kDa.