Study on the control of pore sizes of membranes using chemical methods Part III. The performance of carbonates and bicarbonates in the membrane-making process by the chemical reaction

In this paper, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)/polymethyl acrilate (PMMA)/cellulose acetate (CA) blend UF membranes were prepared by chemical reaction introduced phase-inversion method. The results of the experiment show that: (1) The membrane pore size distribution is more uniform due to the presence of carbonates or bicarbonates in the coagulation bath; (2) No more than the stoichiometric ratio amount of carbonates or bicarbonates in the coagulation bath can effectively improve the membrane pore size distribution and make the pore size of membrane more uniform; (3) The membrane prepared by carbonates solution as a working solution in coagulation bath possess superior performance than that by bicarbonates. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.