Effect of Polyether Sulfone Modification on Membrane Performance and Biocompatibility for Haemodialysis Applications

Haemodialysis is the process of purifying the blood of a person whose kidneys do not function normally.It removes urine toxins and regulates electrolytes in patients with kidney failure.Haemodialysis uses polyethersulfone (PES) membranes which are hydrophobic, so they are susceptible to fouling.Modified methods generally mix these with hydrophilic polymers.The hydrophilic material used as an anti-fouling agent is polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), which is able to increase the hydrophilicity of the membraneby increasing porosity, and removing uremic solutes.Another hydrophilic polymer is chitosan (Cs), which is able to increase hydrophilicity with high antifouling properties, as indicated by the reduced water contact angle.The modified hollow fibrefibre membrane can increase 324.5% compared to the unmodified one with a water flux value of 11.42 L .m -2 h -1 .This is also in line with the removal values of urea and creatinine (51.14% and 50.06%).This is a promising result, similar to those obtained with commercial membranes.The resulting membrane is also good in blood applications which shows results less than 2% that correspond to the range which is considered non-hemolytic.