Methods for making charged ultrafiltration membranes and uses thereof in dairy applications
Assigneesfairlife, LLC, The Board of Trustees of The University of Alabama
InventorsAllison Marie MERZ, lan James BROWN, Stephen Michael Christopher RITCHIE, Shakeel UR REHMAN
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Abstract
Charged ultrafiltration membranes are synthesized by thermally initiated free-radical polymerization and grafting of sodium styrene sulfonate in the pores of an ultrafiltration precursor membrane. The resulting grafted chains of the charged UF membrane provide significant negative charge to maintain nearly complete rejection of proteins at significantly higher flux.
Claims24
A method of making an ultrafiltration membrane, the method comprising:
- (a) contacting a pre-cursor membrane comprising a polyethersulfone (PES) and/or a polysulfone (PSF) with an aqueous mixture comprising sodium styrene sulfonate, a free radical initiator, a crosslinking agent, and water;
- and
- (b) curing the pre-cursor membrane to form the ultrafiltration membrane, wherein the ultrafiltration membrane has sulfonated polystyrene covalently bound in pores and/or covalently bound on an external surface of the ultrafiltration membrane.
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An ultrafiltration membrane comprising:
- (I) a polyethersulfone (PES) and/or a polysulfone (PSF) membrane;
- and
- (II) sulfonated polystyrene covalently bound in pores and/or covalent bound on an external surface of the ultrafiltration membrane.
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Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.