The effect of polyvinylpirrolidone on the performance of polyvinylidene fluoride membranes

Abstract

In this investigation, polyvinylidene fluoride membranes were resulted by a phase inversion technique with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as an agent to form pores, as well as n-methyl pyrrolidone as a solvent. In addition, the effect of PVP concentration (1-4%) was investigated to prepare membranes with better membrane antifouling performance and characteristics. Furthermore, functional groups, morphological structures, and membrane porosity were analysed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and membrane porosity calculation. The surface SEM images revealed that the size of the modified membrane pores increased. The increase of the PVP concentration added, resulted in the number of modified membrane pores. FTIR spectra confirmed that PVP functional groups were dispersed in the PVDF membrane matrix. Optimum pure water permeability (PWP) of 60 L/(m2?h?bar) was achieved using 3% PVP, resulting in a humic acid rejection percentage of 80% and a water flux recovery ratio (FRR) of 85%. These findings indicate that the utilization of PVP as a pre-forming agent resulted in higher PWP, lower humic acid rejection, and good antifouling properties.