Influence of different non-solvent additives to the casting solution on the structure and properties of PES membranes

The effect of the precipitation value (PV) of mixtures of strong and weak non-solvent additives (NSA) on the phase state and viscosity of polyethersulfone(PES)/dimethylacetamide(DMAc)/non-solvent solutions and on the structure and performance of PES membranes were studied. Polyethylene glycol 400 (PEG-400, PV > 1000), water (PV = 10.6), 85 % phosphoric acid (PV = 13.0), glycerol (Gly, PV = 27.8) and mixtures thereof were used as NSA for PES-DMAc solutions. Using Gly/PEG-400 mixtures it was established that the increase in PV of NSA leads to the increase of a miscibility gap on the phase diagram. At a constant concentration of Gly/PEG-400 mixture, the viscosity of the solutions decreases. For a constant ratio (0.94–0.95) of the NSA amount added to the polymer-solvent system to the NSA amount causes a phase separation of the casting solution (coagulation value) increase in PV of NSA Gly/PEG-400 leads to an increase of the membrane pure water flux (PWF) from 13 up to 150 l/m2 h at 1 bar. The most dramatic increase in PWF occurs in the range of PV 39.7–125 g/dL. The results of SEM study don’t show significant differences in the cross-section morphology of membranes for different PV of NSA. However, the thickness of the selective membrane layer increases from 1 up to 4.5 μm when PV increased from 39.7 up to 750 g/dL. Thus, these studies allow us to conclude that the structure and properties of ultrafiltration membranes depend not only on the coagulation value of the casting solution, but also on the precipitation value of NSA.