Utilization of waste polyvinyl chloride (PVC) for ultrafiltration membrane fabrication and its characterization

Waste plastic that has generally been considered as a nuisance in the environment is now being converted into a useful product. This work shows the feasibility of the utilization of waste polyvinyl chloride (PVC) as a membrane precursor. Waste derived PVC was blended with cellulose acetate to overcome the hydrophobic nature of PVC in membrane fabrication. The membranes were prepared via phase inversion using N-dimethyl formamide (DMF) induced by non-solvent. The characterization of the membranes was done using various techniques including field emission scanning electron microscopy, ImageJ software, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy in attenuated total reflectance mode, thermo-gravimetric analysis, and measurement of water contact angle. The membrane properties were assessed by pure water flux (PWF) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) rejection, respectively. The outcome showed that the membrane had a PWF of 85 L/m2 h, BSA rejection of more than 90 % for the neat PVC membrane was recorded. The equilibrium water content was improved by ∼19 %, contact angle decreased by ∼25 % and hydrophilicity enhanced. Thus, this study gives insights that waste PVC can be utilized to fabricate an ultrafiltration (UF) membrane.