Construction of antibacterial layer on polyvinylchloride three-channel hollow fiber membranes

• Published in: Journal of industrial and engineering chemistry (Seoul, Korea) Vol. 39; pp. 181 - 187
• Main Authors: Li, Mei-Sheng, Wang, Ming-Xing, Wu, Fei-Yue, Chu, Xiao-Zhong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 25.07.2016; 한국공업화학회
• Subjects: Antibacterial; Antiinfectives and antibacterials; Escherichia coli; Fibers; Graft; Grafting; Hydrophilicity; Membranes; Modules; Polymerization; Polyvinyl chlorides; PVC hollow fiber membrane; Remote plasma; 화학공학; Remote plasma; Graft; Antibacterial; PVC hollow fiber membrane
• ISSN: 1226-086X; 1876-794X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jiec.2016.05.025

[Display omitted] •A remote plasma-induced graft polymerization process was employed.•The inner surfaces of PVC three-channel hollow fibers were modified with PDMAE-BC.•The surface structures of modified PVC membranes were maintained well.•The hydrophilic enhancement leaded to a great improvement in membrane performance.•The dynamic antibacterial efficacy of PVC-PDMAE-BC membrane module reached 96.3%. The inner surfaces of polyvinylchloride (PVC) three-channel hollow fiber membranes were successfully modified with poly(methacryloxylethyl benzyl dimethyl ammonium chloride) (PDMAE-BC) in a module scale via remote plasma-induced surface graft polymerization method. After grafting a PDMAE-BC layer, the PVC surface hydrophilicity was improved greatly due to the introduction of large amounts of oxygen and nitrogen containing polar groups onto polymer backbone. This hydrophilicity improvement directly leaded to a high pure water flux and a good antifouling property for the obtained PVC-PDMAE-BC membrane module. Meanwhile, the inner surface morphologies of modified PVC membranes changed slightly and the surface structures were maintained well. The tensile strength, though deceased slightly at the remote plasma-treated stage, showed no significant change during overall grafting process. The obtained PVC-PDMAE-BC membrane module exhibited highly effective and stable antibacterial activities against Escherichia coli. The antibacterial efficacy of PVC-PDMAE-BC membrane module with only 6 fibers can achieve about 96.3% and could be further enhanced by increasing the packing density. The antibacterial membrane module may have great potential applications in actual wastewater treatment and membrane bioreactor (MBR).