Impact of Ultraviolet Irradiation on the Performance Characteristics of Polymeric Microfiltration Membranes

Nylon, cellulose acetate, and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membranes are subjected to ultraviolet irradiation in the wavelength range of 280–320 nm to improve their performance in separation of oil-in-water emulsions. The mass of membranes is found to change in relation to the duration of irradiation. The wettability of the surface layer of the PTFE and nylon membranes improves. Alterations of the supramolecular structure of membranes are demonstrated by Fourier-transform IR spectroscopy: the intensity of absorption bands in IR spectra increases in the range of 600−3600 cm –1 . UV irradiation has an effect on the key parameters of membrane separation of a model oil-in-water emulsion using the considered membranes: the specific performance of nylon and cellulose acetate membranes increases by up to 7% depending on the duration of UV irradiation, whereas a 14% decrease in specific performance and a 14% increase in the effectiveness of emulsion separation are observed for the PTFE membrane.