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Molecular weight cut-off determination of organic solvent nanofiltration membranes using poly(propylene glycol)

Journal of Membrane Science, ISSN: 0376-7388, Vol: 526, Page: 221-228
2017
  • 38
    Citations
  • 0
    Usage
  • 77
    Captures
  • 0
    Mentions
  • 0
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Metric Options:   Counts1 Year3 Year

Metrics Details

  • Citations
    38
    • Citation Indexes
      38
  • Captures
    77

Article Description

A new method for determining the molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) of an organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN) membrane has been developed utilising poly(propylene glycol) (PPG) oligomers. This new MWCO method overcomes the limitations of the currently popular methods: namely the high molecule cost in the popular polystyrene method, the Donnan Exclusion effects when using dye molecules and the solvent compatibility and HPLC separation resolution limitations of the lesser used poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) method. A new reverse phase high-performance liquid chromatography separation with evaporative light scattering detection (ELSD) allows the concentration of each oligomer of PPG to be accurately determined and from this the MWCO curves are constructed. The method has a high resolution (size increment of 58 g mol −1 corresponding to the OCH(CH 3 )CH 2 structural unit) and can be used in polar, polar aprotic, and non-polar solvents. The accuracy of the method has been demonstrated in three different solvents (methanol, acetone, and toluene) and 5 different OSN membranes (DuraMem® 150, 200, 500, PuraMem® 280 and StarMem TM 240). Other advantages include; oligomers of PPG are cheap and widely available, can probe a wide range of MWCO and provide high resolution MWCO curves. Consequently, it is proposed that this method be adopted as a new standard MWCO test for OSN membranes.

Bibliographic Details

Christopher John Davey; Ze-Xian Low; Remigius H. Wirawan; Darrell Alec Patterson

Elsevier BV

Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology; Materials Science; Chemistry; Chemical Engineering

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