Construction of Polyacrylonitrile Blended Ultrafiltration Membrane With Industrialization Prospects by Modulating Composition of Casting Liquid

ABSTRACT Wastewater contaminants can be effectively removed using membrane separation technology, and polyacrylonitrile, a polymer with strong thermal and chemical durability, has been employed extensively in developing water treatment membranes. Typically, bare polymer membranes face numerous challenges, including low permeate flux and poor separation capacity, so researchers have used modification maneuvers such as adding polymers and inorganic and other modified materials as additives to overcome these challenges. However, the cost issues of membrane development, reproducibility, and whether they have the potential for large‐scale industrial production are often overlooked. This study uses polyacrylonitrile as the polymer matrix, polyvinylpyrrolidone as the modifier, and 1‐methyl‐2‐pyrrolidone as the solvent to prepare hybrid ultrafiltration membranes utilizing the impregnation‐submerged phase transition method. A polymeric membrane with high permeate flux (pure water permeate flux up to 693.7 L m −2 h −1 ) and good separation ability (BSA retention up to 89.6%) can be made by altering the casting solution's polymer matrix and modifier ratio. The membrane made by scraping and coating it with this cast membrane solution using an automatic coating machine also maintains good reproducibility (pure water permeate flux up to 683.5 L m −2 h −1 and BSA retention up to 86.6%). These results suggest that changing the blending ratio of the cast membrane solution provides a relevant idea for developing polyacrylonitrile ultrafiltration membranes with industrialization prospects.