Ultrafiltration/nanofiltration membrane with tunable pore size
AssigneeSociete De Commercialisation Des Produits De La Recherche Appliquee Socpra Sciences Et Genie S.E.C.
InventorsFarhad FARNIA, Yue ZHAO
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Abstract
An ultrafiltration/nanofiltration membrane with gas-tunable pore size is provided. This membrane comprises an active layer arranged between two porous support layers, wherein the active layer is formed of randomly arranged cellulose nanocrystals, wherein pores are defined in the active layer by the free spaces existing between the randomly arranged cellulose nanocrystals, and wherein chains of a CO2-responsive polymer are grafted on the surface of the cellulose nanocrystals. There are also provided methods for filtering a feed using the membrane, for tuning the apparent pore size/MWCO/charge of the membrane, for cleaning the membrane, and for manufacturing the membrane.
Claims39
An ultrafiltration/nanofiltration membrane with gas-tunable pore size comprising an active layer arranged on a first porous support layer,
- wherein the active layer is formed of randomly arranged cellulose nanocrystals,
- wherein pores are defined in the active layer by the free spaces existing between the randomly arranged cellulose nanocrystals, and
- wherein chains of a CO2-responsive polymer are grafted on the surface of the cellulose nanocrystals.
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An ultrafiltration/nanofiltration membrane with gas-tunable pore size comprising an active layer, wherein the active layer is formed of a porous polyether sulfone (PES), cellulose acetate, Nylon, cellulose nitrate, or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane and wherein chains of CO2-responsive polymer are grafted on the surface and the gates of the membrane.
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The method of claim 59, wherein step a) comprises the step of growing chains of the CO2-responsive polymer on the surface of the cellulose nanocrystals, and the growing step comprises attaching a polymerization initiator on the surface of the cellulose nanocrystals, and using the cellulose nanocrystals for initiating a polymerization reaction of monomers of the CO2-responsive polymer, thus growing said chains of the CO2-responsive polymer on the surface of the cellulose nanocrystals.
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Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.