Transport and hydrolysis of urea in a reactor-separator combining an anion-exchange membrane and immobilized urease

A membrane reactor-separator, in which an anion-exchange membrane and a urease-immobilized poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) membrane were clamped together to separate the feed solution and the stripping solution of a dialysis cell, was constructed. The urea in the feed solution passed through the anion-exchange membrane, water film, and then was hydrolyzed to ammonium carbamate in the urease-immobilized PVA membrane. The experimental results showed that no ammonium ion was found in the feed solution under either phosphate or citrate buffer systems at 0.05-0.2 mol dm-3 and pH 6-9, and various initial concentrations of urea in the feed solution (20-200 mmol dm-3). This indicates that the water film between two membranes allows the carbamate ions to decompose into ammonium and carbonate ions completely before entering the anion-exchange membrane. The device therefore can be used for the removal of urea from feed solution, while preventing the backflow of ammonium ions from the stripping solution or water film into feed solution. It has significant potential in the development of a wearable or portable artificial kidney. The properties of the urease-immobilized PVA membrane were examined. A kinetic model describing the transport-reaction behavior of urea in the membrane reactor-separator was developed, and the optimum values of the reactor parameters were obtained.