Nylon 66 Membranes: Influence of polymer concentration on the morphological and transport properties

JORGE E. ALMAZÁN; ESTELA ROMERO DÓNDIZ; VERÓNICA B. RAJAL; ELZA CASTRO VIDAURRE

Amsterdam

Congreso; International Congress on Membrane and Membrane Processes.; 2011

Currently, polyamide membranes are emerging as promising alternatives in food and biotechnology industries because of their resistance to high temperatures, chemical disinfectants, and microbial attack (Heldman 2007). Nylon 66 is an aliphatic polyamide, which is presented as a semi-crystalline polymer that has good thermal stability and mechanical strength, and is considered an important engineering thermoplastic (Tohgo, 2001, Murthy 2002).In membrane technology, experimental works showed that the polymer concentration is one of the most important parameters to achieve the desired properties of the membranes. This is because a thicker and selective layer is formed with increasing polymer concentration, which increases the selectivity of certain substances and reduces the flow due to high mechanical resistance offered by the membrane (Murphy, 1995; Pesek, 1994; Saljoughi, 2009).The aim of this work was to synthesize Nylon 66 membranes and to analyze the effect of polymer concentration in the polymeric solution. Membranes were synthesized by the phase inversion technique through immersion-precipitation, described by Mulder (1991). Polymeric solutions were prepared changing the polymer concentration between 8 and 16% w/w. These membranes were characterized by thickness measurements, scanning electron microscope (SEM), equilibrium water content (EWC), porosity (P), pure water flux (Jw). Results showed that higher concentration of polymer causes an increase in membrane thickness and a decrease in flow and permeability of pure water.