Plasma induced modification of ultrafiltration membranes for viral removal in drinking water treatment

MERCEDES MÉNDEZ; CRUZ, MERCEDES CECILIA; LAURA PALACIOS; RAJAL, VERONICA; CASTRO VIDAURRE, ELZA; JOSÉ CALVO; PEDRO PÁDRANOS

Torremolinos, Málaga

Conferencia; 1. IV International Conference on environmental, industrial and applied microbiology, BioMicroWorld 2011; 2011

Formatex Research Center

Aceptado en formato poster. Currently the plasma treatment is a tool widely used in surface modification ofdifferent materials to optimize their properties against a particular application. Inthe present work, plasma technique was used to deposit a layer of hydrophilicpolymer on asymmetric ultrafiltration (UF) membranes. Theses membraneswere synthesized for the phase inversion method. Polyethersulfone (PES)membranes were prepared using polyethylene glycol (PEG) as additive, withseveral values of molecular weight (400, 1000 and 10.000 Da), beingdimethylacetamide (DMAc) the solvent and water as the non-solvent. Themembranes synthesized were first submitted to plasma of argon gas, non ?polymerizable, and subsequently other plasma atmosphere generated withargon and vapor of acrylic acid (AA). The aim was enhance hydrophilicity anduniform surface pores of the UF membranes leading to less fouling andsubsequent flux enhancement. The characterization of the membranes beforeand after the surface modification was done using contact angle to determine itseffect on the surface hydrophilicity. Also SEM and AFM images have been usedto know the membrane morphology and Liquid-liquid Displacement Porosimetry(LLDP) was used to quantify the pore size distributions. The pure waterpermeability and tests of retention of viral model, bacteriophage PP7 using thehost Pseudomonas aeruginosa, were measured showing a proper performance.Finally, the fouling was evaluated by measuring the relative water reduction(RFR). The membranes modified by plasma had high permeability and smallerRFR values after filtration with PP7.