• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.166-169
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• 2004

Microfiltration membranes were prepared from aromatic polyethersulfone (PES) polymer, using aprotic solvent (N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, NMP) and non-solvent additive (2-methoxy ethanol, 2-ME) by the phase inversion co-process of the vapor-induced phase inversion (VIPI) and the nonsolvent-induced phase inversion (NIPI). According to the change of the additive amount, the solvent amount and the relative humidity, membrane characterization was studied. The non-solvent additive in casting solution played an important role in membrane morphology. During the vapor-induced phase inversion, the relative humidity led to water sorption on the surface of casting dope at which pore formation was generated. The prepared membranes were characterized by scanning electron microscope observations, measurements of capillary flow porometer and pure water flux (PWP). Also the thermodynamic and kinetic properties of membrane-forming system were studied through coagulation value, light transmittance and viscosity.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.61-69
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• 2001

Polycarbonate(PC) membranes for oxygen enrichment from air were prepared by the wet phase inversion method. In order to improve oxygen separation performances of the PC membrane, the effect of the added ethanol(nonsolvent) and $CuCl_2$(metal salt) concentration in the casting solution on morphology, oxygen permeability ami $O_2/N_2$ separation factor of the membrane was studied. In addition, tensile strength and elongation at break of the membrane were investigated. An asymmetric membrane with a dense top layer and a porous sublayer was obtained. The thickness of the dense top layer decreased with increasing amount of nonsolvent additive. Compared with pure PC membrane without additive(metal salt), the oxygen permeability and $O_2/N_2$ separation factor of the $PC/CuCl_2$ membrane are significantly improved. The oxygen permeability and $O_2/N_2$ separation factor is $5.25{\times}10^{-9}cm^3(STP){\cdot}cm/cm^2{\cdot}sec{\cdot}cmHg$ and 4.5, respectively. This improvement might be due to good interaction between metal salt and oxygen.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.317-324
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• 2008

Polysulfone membranes were prepared via the phase inversion process. With propionic acid as a nonsolvent additive, polysulfone casting solutions were solidified in an isopropanol bath. Propionic acid (PA) worked as a thermodynamic enhancer for phase separation and as a rheological suppressor for kinetic hindrance. Morphology of the prepared membranes significantly varied with propionic acid content in the casting solution. The dense skin layer, which was identified in the membrane prepared without PA, almost disappeared in the membrane prepared trom PA 10wt%. With 30wt% PA, the membrane revealed the morphological gradient from a nodular skin structure to a sponge-like substructure, including the finger-like cavity. Water permeability increased with PA content, and polyethylene glycol rejection decreased with the nonsolvent content.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.633-639
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• 2008

Polysulfone membranes were prepared via the phase inversion process. Toluene was added as a nonsolvent additive in the casting solution containing a mixture of polysulfone and n-methylpyrrolidone. When prepared via the diffusion-induced process using isopropanol as a precipitation nonsolvent, the solidified membranes revealed a similar asymmetric structure irrespective of the addition of toluene, presenting both a dense skin layer and a sponge-like support layer. The added toluene played a role of enhancing liquid-liquid phase separation of the casting solution, and skin layer thickness of a prepared membrane increased with toluene content in the casting solution. On membrane performance, the solute rejection showed a uniform behavior irrespective of the addition of toluene. However, in spite of the significant increase in dense skin layer thickness, the water permeation through the membrane prepared with 60 wt% toluene revealed five times as much flux, compared with that of the membrane prepared without toluene additive.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.32-41
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• 2015

High performance polysulfone microfiltration membranes with a high were successfully prepared by vapor induced phase separation (VIPS) coupled with non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) process. Asymmetric Membranes were prepared with PSF/DMF/PVP/PEG/DMSO/water mixed solutions and water/IPA coagulant. PSF, DMF, PVP, PEG, DMSO, water was used as a membrane polymer, a solvent, a hydrophilic polymer additive, a polar protic liquid polymer, a polar aprotic nonsolvent, and a polar protic nonsolvent in the casting solution, respectively. The addition of polar aprotic nonsolvents, and polar protic nonsolvents is a convenient and effective method to control membrane structure. In order to control the morphology of polymeric membranes, the spontaneous emulsification induced by drawing water vapor into the exposed casting solution surface has been used. Control of the internal morphology of polymeric membranes by using mixed coagulation solution such as water and IPA is discussed in the present work. The pure water permeability, pore size distribution, surface hydrophilicity and membrane morphology were investigated. Due to the addition of DMSO to casting solution, the mean pore size increased almost $0.2{\mu}m$ and the water flux increased about 1000-1800 LMH.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.76-86
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• 2010

This study investigated the effect of 2-butoxyethanol (BE) as a nonsolvent additive, relative humidity and air contact time on the structure formation of microfiltration membranes, permeation and morphology properties in phase inversion process. The membranes were prepared by using polyethersulfone (PES)/Dimethyl formamide (DMF)/p-toluenesulfonic acid (TSA)/Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)/BE casting solution and water coagulant. Casting solutions containing various concentration of BE were exposed to a water vapor, under 60 and 80% of relative humidity for 40 and 90 sec, which would be absorbed on. The correlations between the membrane permeation properties and surface/inner structures of membrane were investigated. The characterization of membranes was carried out by a capillary flow porometer, a FE-SEM and a water permeation test apparatus. The surface structure of PES membranes was affected by the exposure time as well as the relative humidity strongly. Furthermore, the addition of BE helped control surface and inner structure at certain humidity and exposure time.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.277-285
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• 2011

Polysulfone (PSf) membranes were prepared via the phase inversion process. Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) was added as a nonsolvent additive in the casting solution containing a mixture of PSf and n-methylpyrrolidone. The added PVP played a role of enhancing liquid-liquid phase separation of the casting solution, and significantly reduced the solution fluidity. When prepared via the diffusion-induced process using water as a precipitation nonsolvent, the solidified membranes revealed a typical asymmetric structure irrespective of the addition of PVP. With 5 wt% PVP content, the finger-like cavities were more developed in the membrane sublayer compared to that of the membranes prepared without PVP. In contrast, with more than 10 wt% of PVP, the formation of finger-like cavities was suppressed, and the thickness of polymer nodule layer was increased. The surface porosity was also increased with the PSf content in the casting solution. The water permeability curve as a function of PVP addition revealed the inflection point. The maximum water permeability for 12 wt% PSf membrane was obtained with 5 wt% PVP content, and that for 18 wt% PSf membrane with 15 wt% PVP.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.157-165
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• 1996

Polysulfone(PS) membranes were prepared from homogeneous PS solutions by the phase inversion technique. When propionic acid(PA) was added into a casting solution of n-methylpyrrolidone(NMP) and PS, precipitation rate of the solution film was accelerated. This kind of acceleration was consistent, even though a precipitating nonsolvent was changed from water to isopropanol. These phenomena were caused by decrease of nonsolvent tolerance in the casting solution due to addition of PA. PS powder was prepared by precipitation of a 3wt% solution in dimethylformamide(DMF) using ethanol as nonsolvent. Gas adsorption analysis of the powder showed that the capillary condensation sites were found in the powder structure. Membranes prepared from PS solution(15wt%) in NMP had the following characteristics of gas adsorption and water permeation. In gas adsorption analysis, the membrane precipitated using isopropanol showed low uptake of nitrogen gas and the capillary condensation sites were not found. On the contrary, a significant amount of the capillary condensation sites was found in the membrane coagulated by water, which was related to increase of nitrogen uptake. tn the membrane prepared froin the solution including PA, an increase of the Henry's law sites and the Langmuir sites was not found clearly. However, the capillary condensation sites were significantly increased, and the water transport also increased.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.348-354
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• 2019

Recently, the application range of organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN) technology has been expanding, requiring membranes with better performance. In this work, thin film composite (TFC) OSN membrane was fabricated. First, ultrafiltration support membrane was prepared via nonsolvent-induced phase separation (NIPS) technique using polysulfone (PSf) and polyethersulfone (PES). Then, the effect of pore forming additives such as polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and pluronic F-127 were employed to improve the membrane permeance. The well-known interfacial polymerization technique was employed using MPD-TMC chemistry to form a thin film on top of the fabricated support, and its solvent permeance and nanofiltration performance was characterized. It was found that polyethersulfone support exhibited more reliable performance compared to polysulfone, and PVP additive was more effective compared to Pluronic F-127. As for the oSN performance, polar aprotic solvents like acetonitrile show significantly higher flux (986.5 L·m^-2·h^-1·bar^-1) compared to water and EtOH (9.5 L·m^-2·h^-1·bar^-1).

• Membrane Journal
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.212-219
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• 2016

The alumina hollow fiber membranes were prepared by spinning and sintering a polymer solution containing suspended alumina powders. For determine pore structure of hollow fiber membranes formed by different solvent-nonsolvent interaction rate, dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), dimethylacetamide (DMAc), triethylphosphite (TEP) were prepared in dope solution by solvent, polyethersulfone (PESf) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) were used as a polymer binder and additive. The pore structure of hollow fiber membranes was characterized using scanning electron microscope (SEM). The alumina hollow fiber membranes prepared by DMSO, DMAc were had the asymmetric structure mixed sponge-like and finger-like morphology, while TEP solvent were had single sponge-like structure. The prepared hollow fiber membranes were analyzed gas permeation and mechanical strength experiment also. The hollow fiber membrane having single sponge-like structure was had high gas permeation performance. On the contrary to this, more finger-like morphology was less gas permeation performance.