Influence of solvent type on the ability and properties of the boehmite nanoparticles embedded emulsion polyvinyl chloride nanocomposite ultrafiltration membranes

The effects of two different solvents of dimethylacetamide (DMAc) and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) were investigated on the properties and performance of the neat and EPVC/nano-boehmite nanocomposite membranes. Boehmite nanoparticles were embedded into the membranes structure to improve their performance. Water contact angle, EDX, SEM, and AFM analyses were used to inspect the hydrophilicity, surface roughness, membrane morphology, and boehmite nanoparticles dispersion in the membranes structures, respectively. The optimum amounts of 1 wt% and 0.75 wt% of the boehmite nanoparticles were obtained for the EPVC-based nanocomposite membranes prepared in different solvents of DMAc and NMP, respectively. It indicated that the optimum amount of nano-boehmite that promoting the properties of the membranes was depended on the type of solvent. In comparison with the neat membranes, the modified ones fabricated in DMAc and NMP solvents, using optimum concentrations of boehmite nanoparticles showed growth of 61.7% and 66% in the fluxes of pure water, correspondingly and exhibited a significant improvement in the permeability. The value of BSA protein rejection for all of the EPVC-based membranes was higher than 98% which showed that the prepared membranes had excellent separation performance. The membranes fabricated in NMP solvent in the presence of the optimum amount of boehmite nanoparticles demonstrated the higher improvement in anti-fouling property and fouling resistance. Finally, it can be concluded that NMP solvent showed better performance in comparison with DMAc solvent for the improvement of the EPVC/nano-boehmite nanocomposite ultrafiltration membranes properties.