Fabrication of a new emulsion polyvinyl chloride (EPVC) nanocomposite ultrafiltration membrane modified by para-hydroxybenzoate alumoxane (PHBA) additive to improve permeability and antifouling performance

New emulsion polyvinyl chloride (EPVC) microporous nanocomposite ultrafiltration membranes were fabricated by doping them using various amounts of para-hydroxybenzoate alumoxane (PHBA) via the phase inversion technique. High hydrophilicity of PHBA particles made it an outstanding selection for improving the membranes performance. The prepared membranes were characterized with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques along with water contact angle, permeation, rejection and fouling tests. The modified EPVC membranes indicated an improvement in hydrophilicity and pure water flux because of the attendance of hydrophilic PHBA additive. All of the fabricated membranes demonstrated higher flux recovery ratio (FRR (%)) in comparison with the pristine EPVC membrane. The modified membrane with 0.5 wt.% of PHBA showed the highest water flux growth (47.1%) and the best antifouling performance (FRR = 65.3%). In addition, the rejection of the bovine serum albumin (BSA) was more than 98% for all of the prepared membranes. The performance of the neat and optimum membranes was evaluated for reusability and concentrating the whey protein and the obtained results showed that the modified nanocomposite membrane had higher fouling resistance and permeability.