Fabrication of Polyacrylonitrile Hollow Fiber Membranes from Ionic Liquid Solutions

Dooli Kim, Nicolas Moreno Chaparro, Suzana Pereira Nunes

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

38 Scopus citations

Abstract

The interest in green processes and products has increased to reduce the negative impact of many industrial processes to the environment. Solvents, which play a crucial role in the fabrication of membranes, need to be replaced by sustainable and less toxic solvent alternatives for commonly used polymers. The purpose of this study is the fabrication of greener hollow fiber membranes based on polyacrylonitrile (PAN), substituting dimethylformamide (DMF) by less toxic mixtures of ionic liquids (IL) and dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO). A thermodynamic analysis was conducted, estimating the Gibbs free energy of mixing to find the most convenient solution compositions. Hollow fiber membranes were manufactured and optimized. As a result, a uniform pattern and high porosity were observed in the inner surface of the membranes prepared from the ionic liquid solutions. The membranes were coated with a polyamide layer by interfacial polymerization the hollow fiber membranes were applied in forward osmosis experiments by using sucrose solutions as draw solution.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)113-124
Number of pages12
JournalPolym. Chem.
Volume7
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2016

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Fabrication of Polyacrylonitrile Hollow Fiber Membranes from Ionic Liquid Solutions'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this