MARCO SANGERMANO¹*, LUIGI C. CAPOZZI¹, FARRUKH M. MEHMOOD¹, MATTIA GIAGNORIO², ALBERTO TIRAFERRI²
*Corresponding author
1. Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Torino, Italy
2. Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy

Abstract

In this work, we present a review of recent results  in the design of ultrafiltration membranes by using photopolymerization. Non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) was coupled with photopolymerization and the starting polysulfone polymer (PSU) was either modified with methacrylated photocurable functionalities (PSU-DM) or the PSU was mixed with an acrylated resin. The resulting membranes showed an enhancement of solvent resistance, due to the crosslinking matrix. Finally, the solvent-resistant membranes were coated them with polydompamine in order to couple ultrafiltration and removal of contaminants by adsorption.

INTRODUCTION

The UN Agenda 2030 has put the sustainable use of water as a top priority among its sustainable development goals. In this perspective, the treatment of wastewater is a challenging task that requires the adoption of new innovative solutions and calls researchers to investigate new processes and materials. Among these, membrane separation technologies have gained widespread attention because of their ability to treat wastewater at the highest standards using modules that operate in continuous mode over broad operational regimes (1, 2).

Ultrafiltration (UF) is a pressure-driven membrane filtration process in which raw water flow is forced to pass through a porous membrane while excluding pathogens, colloids, and macromolecules from the feed (3). UF is widely used for drinking water purification, seawater desalination, and urban and industrial wastewater treatment. Chemical, food, pharmaceutical, and textile industry use large q ... ...