Preparation of Polyvinylchloride Nanofiltration Membrane: Investigation of the Effect of Thickness, Prior Evaporation Time and Addition of Polyethylenglchol as Additive on Membrane Performance and Properties

In this work, polyvinylchloride (PVC) membrane prepared via casting solution technique and phase inversion method. N, N dimethylacetamide (DMAC) was used as primary solvent and Tetrahydrofuran (THF) was used as a co-solvent. The effects of parameters such as membrane thickness, evaporation time of casting film before immersion precipitation and addition of polyethylenglchol (PEG) on PVC membrane were studied in terms of deionized water flux (DIW), tensile strength, phase inversion time in non-solvent, water content, final wet thickness, permeability flux, salt rejection and antifouling properties. It consulted; DIW has an overhand relation by increasing of membrane thickness and prior casting film evaporation time. In addition there was a liner relation between membrane thickness and prior casting film evaporation time versus phase inversion time in non-solvent. The results revealed that by increasing prior casting film evaporation time, the tensile versus of strength force increase. In addition, water content percent was decreased by increasing of prior evaporation time. Besides, addition of PEG as a hydrophilic additive improved membrane performance by increasing of flux and less fouling during experiments.