Modification of Polyether Sulfone (PES) Hollow Fiber Membranes Characteristics for More Efficient Water Treatment Process

Abstract

Membrane technology is used to separate water or solvents from salts or pollutants. This technique could be used for water treatment. For using of Polyether sulfone (PES) hollow fiber membranes in water treatment processes, the PES hollow fiber membranes were prepared by dry-wet spinning method and heated in an oven at: 120°C, 150°C and 180°C. The effect of heating on performance of membranes was investigated in a test module with five hollow fibers, each 15 cm long, were potted at both ends with epoxy glue. Then polyethylen glycol (PEG) and polyethylen oxide (PEO) with different molecular weights were passed through hollow fibers. It was found that the membrane shrank by heating, which was evidenced by the reduction in flux and increase in solute separation. The best results were obtained when the hollow fibers were heated at 150°C. A further investigation was made on the effect of heating period, while the temperature was fixed to 150 °C. It was found that heating period affected membrane performance only little.