Modification of Hollow Fibre Membranes through Electron Beam Irradiation

Abstract

The capacity for secondary effluent filtration of hollow fiber polypropylene membranes grafted with several zwitterionic molecules and multi-walled carbon nanotubes was evaluated. In particular, all the modifications result in significant improvement of filtration performances. The anti-fouling properties of the membrane had been increased without damaging the membrane as observed from FTIR, TGA/DTA analyses. The loading of MWCNT increased both the resistance of the membrane to organic matters fouling and permeate quality thank to the adsorption on carbon nanotubes. However, upon irradiation of PP-MWCNT membranes, a proportion of CNT was degraded and some of its adsorptive characteristics deteriorated, although the membrane’s filtration capability was still very impressive. Among the zwitterionic molecules, the best performers were the cysteine-modified membrane, followed by phosphocholine and DMAEMA.