Cellulose acetate hydrophilicity

Fibrillated Fibers. Instead of extmding cellulose acetate into a continuous fiber, discrete, pulp-like agglomerates of fine, individual fibrils, called fibrets or fibrids, can be produced by rapid precipitation with an attenuating coagulation fluid. The individual fibers have diameters of 0.5 to 5.0 ]lni and lengths of 20 to 200 )Jm (Fig. 10). The surface area of the fibrillated fibers are about 20 m /g, about 60—80 times that of standard textile fibers. These materials are very hydrophilic an 85% moisture content has the appearance of a dry soHd (72). One appHcation is in a paper stmcture where their fine fiber size and branched stmcture allows mechanical entrapment of small particles. The fibers can also be loaded with particles to enhance some desired performance such as enhanced opacity for papers. When filled with metal particles it was suggested they be used as a radar screen in aerial warfare (73). 

The selective dense layer of hydrophilic membranes is made from different polymers with a high affinity for water. These polymers contain ions, oxygen functions like hydroxyl, ester, ether or carboxylic moieties, or nitrogen as imino or imi-do groups. Preferred hydropilic polymers are polyvinylalcohol (PVA) [32], poly-imides, cellulose acetate (CA) or natural polymers like chitosan [33] or alginates. Organophilic membranes usually consist of crosslinked silicones, mostly polydimethyl siloxane (PDMS) or polymethyl octyl siloxane (POMS). 

An early generation of composite membranes, developed by Riley, et al. (21), was based on cellulose triacetate (CTA) cast in an ultrathln coat from chloroform on the finely porous surface of a cellulose nitrate/cellulose acetate substrate. These membranes did not reflect a need for a hydrophllic-gel Intermediate layer. Yet, this membrane substrate is much more hydrophilic than the rejecting CTA layer, and high flux as well as high separation were concurrently obtained. This is not the case if the porous substrate is highly hydrophobic. A rejecting layer deposited on such a surface would yield an extremely poor productivity due to the loss of... 

The requirement of hydrophilicity in barrier materials has been widely accepted, but the mechanism by which it affects membrane performance, especially for the permselectivity, is not fully understood. Cellulose acetate and some kinds of polyamides and their analogues featured in the present review have both hydraulic permeability and permselectivity, while most highly hydrophilic materials have high permeability for water and show unselective permeation for ions and organic solutes. 

Tn the last decades many attempts have been made to obtain attractive - materials by intimate mixing of two polymers with opposite or complementary properties. For example, the impact resistance of brittle polystyrene is increased by mixing with a rubber the wettability of polyacrylonitrile fiber is increased by mixing with hydrophilic saponified cellulose acetate, and the inconvenient flat-spotting of nylon-reinforced tires is suppressed by mixing stiffer polyester fibrils into the nylon fibers. In practically all cases these products acquire their final shape via the liquid state. Thus, the viscous properties of these liquid mixtures are important. 

Membrane materials often employed are hydrophobic polysulfone or hydrophilic regenerated cellulose or cellulose acetate other materials are nylon, polytetrafluoro-ethylene (PTFE, Teflon), polyether ether ketone (PEEK) or poly(divinyl fluoride) (PDVF). 

Most of today s ultrafiltration membranes are made by variations of the Loeb-Sourirajan process. A limited number of materials are used, primarily polyacrylonitrile, poly(vinyl chloride)-polyacrylonitrile copolymers, polysulfone, poly(ether sulfone), poly(vinylidene fluoride), some aromatic polyamides, and cellulose acetate. In general, the more hydrophilic membranes are more fouling-resistant than the completely hydrophobic materials. For this reason water-soluble... 

The process shown in Figure 9.21 was first developed by Separex, using cellulose acetate membranes. The separation factor for methanol from MTBE is high (>1000) because the membrane material, cellulose acetate, is relatively glassy and hydrophilic. Thus, both the mobility selectivity term and the sorption term in Equation (9.5) significantly favor permeation of the smaller molecule, methanol, because methanol is more polar than MTBE or isobutene, the other feed components. These membranes are reported to work well for feed methanol concentrations up to 6%. Above this concentration, the membrane is plasticized, and selectivity is lost. More recently, Sulzer (GFT) has also studied this separation using their plasma-polymerized membrane [56],... 

Hydrophilicity of polymeric channels can also be increased by photoablation. For instance, polymeric channels (37 pm deep) were photoablated through a copper foil mask. Relative to the original polymer, the photoablated surface is rougher and has increased hydrophilicity. The EOF increases in the following order PC < PS < cellulose acetate < PET [194]. The excimer laser ablation has... 

Another example of using ultrafiltration for wastewater treatment and resource recovery is the separation of oil-water emulsions generated from metal machining, oil field wastes, and enhanced oil recovery effluents. Hydrophilic membranes such as cellulose acetate are preferred because they are effective barriers to oil droplets and are less prone to fouling. The UF permeate readily meets direct discharge standards. The oil-rich stream can be processed to reclaim the oil, or disposed at reduced transportation cost because of its reduced volume. 

Membrane polymeric materials for separation applications are made of polyamide, polypropylene, polyvinylidene fluoride, polysulfone, polyethersulfone, cellulose acetate, cellulose diacetate, polystyrene resins cross-linked with divinylbenzene, and others (see Section 2.9) [59-61], The use of polyamide membrane filters is suggested for particle-removing filtration of water, aqueous solutions and solvents, as well as for the sterile filtration of liquids. The polysulfone and polyethersulfone membranes are widely applied in the biotechnological and pharmaceutical industries for the purification of enzymes and peptides. Cellulose acetate membrane filters are hydrophilic, and consequently, are suitable as a filtering membrane for aqueous and alcoholic media. 

The fact that the very fast disappearance of surface fluorine atoms on water immersion was observed for the highly crystalline cellulose rather than the amorphous cellulose acetate suggests that the hydrophilicity or swelling capability (by water) of a polymer is more important than the degree of crystallinity. 

The MF membranes are usually made from natural or synthetic polymers such as cellulose acetate (CA), polyvinylidene difiuoride, polyamides, polysulfone, polycarbonate, polypropylene, and polytetrafiuoroethylene (FIFE) (13). Some of the newer MF membranes are ceramic membranes based on alumina, membranes formed during the anodizing of aluminium, and carbon membrane. Glass is being used as a membrane material. Zirconium oxide can also be deposited onto a porous carbon tube. Sintered metal membranes are fabricated from stainless steel, silver, gold, platinum, and nickel, in disks and tubes. The properties of membrane materials are directly reflected in their end applications. Some criteria for their selection are mechanical strength, temperature resistance, chemical compatibility, hydrophobility, hydrophilicity, permeability, permselectivity and the cost of membrane material as well as manufacturing process. 

Dialysis and Gas Diffusion Dialysis is often used in continuous-flow methods to separate inorganic ions, such as chloride or sodium, or small organic molecules, such as glucose, from high-molecular-weight species, such as proteins. Small ions and molecules diffuse relatively rapidly through hydrophilic membranes of cellulose acetate or nitrate while large molecules do not. Dialysis usually precedes the determination of ions and small molecules in whole blood or serum. 

In hydrophilic membranes the separating layer is most commonly made from crosslinked polyvinyl-alcohol (PVA), however, polyimides or natural polymers like chitosan or cellulose acetate (CA) are also used (Fig. 9). 

Polymeric materials for MF membranes cover a very wide range from relatively hydrophilic to very hydrophobic materials. Typical hydrophilic materials are polysulfone (PS), poly ether sulfone (PES), cellulose (CE) and cellulose acetate (CA), polyamide (PA), polyimide (PI), polyetherimide (PEI), and polycarbonate (PC). Typical hydrophobic materials are polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polytetra-fluoroethylene (PTFE, Teflon), and polyvinylidene fluoride (PYDF). 

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