THE EFFECTS OF ADDITIVES AND TYPES OF SOLVENTS ON THE PERFORMANCE OF POLY(VINYLIDENE FLUORIDE) (PVDF) MEMBRANES

• Main Author: Alimuddin
• Format: Theses
• Language: Indonesia
• Subjects: Kimia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/33939
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

The characteristics of membrane is affected by several parameters, such as polymer concentration, additives concentration and types of solvents used in the membrane casting solution. In this research, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) was used as the polymer, polyethylene glycol (PEG400) as additive, N,N-dimethyl acetamide (DMAc) and mixture of DMAc and triethyl phosphate (TEP) as solvent. This research aims to study the effects of the additive concentration, polymer concentration and types of solvents on the membrane characteristics. The PVDF membrane was prepared by phase inversion technique. In this research, three types of PVDF membranes were prepared, by varying the additive concentration (between 0-20% w/w), polymer concentration between (18-19% w/w) and types of solvents. The membranes were characterized by analyzing the water flux, % rejection, contact angle, mechanical properties and membrane morphology. The results showed that higher concentration of PEG400 resulted in higher water flux, lower contact angle and mechanical strength. It should be noted that the % rejection was increased at first but decreased later; so, the maximum % rejection of membrane was obtained at 10% w/w of PEG400. This is due to increased number of pores formed by the addition of PEG400. The same results were also observed in membrane using solvent mixture which accelerated the membrane precipitation. Hence, the flux increased, but the contact angle, rejection, and mechanical strength decreased. The higher concentration of PVDF led to lower water flux, but the contact angle, rejection, and mechanical strength were higher. It can be concluded that the optimum condition of membrane showed a water flux of (30,93 ± 3,15) L.m-2.h-1 and % rejection for 2000 kDa dextran solution of (95,16 ± 0,36)%.