Nonwoven Membrane Supports from Renewable Resources: Bamboo Fiber Reinforced Poly(Lactic Acid) Composites
Type
ArticleAuthors
Le Phuong, Hai AnhIzzati Ayob, Nor Amira
Blanford, Christopher F.
Mohammad Rawi, Nurul Fazita
Szekely, Gyorgy

KAUST Department
Advanced Membranes & Porous Materials CenterAdvanced Membranes and Porous Materials Research Center
Chemical Engineering Program
Chemical and Biological Engineering
Physical Science and Engineering (PSE) Division
Date
2019-06-11Online Publication Date
2019-06-11Print Publication Date
2019-07Embargo End Date
2020-01-01Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/656242
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Membrane separation has been widely recognized as an energy-efficient technology with a rapidly growing market. However, such growth raises concerns about sustainability due to current fabrication methods that employ toxic solvents and nondegradable petroleum-based polymers. The focus of tackling these challenges has been on the active layer of membranes via renewable materials, while the equally important membrane supports are yet to turn green. Herein we report the fabrication of sustainable, biodegradable, nonwoven composite membrane supports made from three renewable materials: bamboo fiber, poly(lactic acid) (PLA), and dimethyl carbonate. The biobased membrane supports exhibited a porous structure (porosity of 0.719 ± 0.132) with tensile strengths (32.7-73.3 MPa) comparable to conventional materials, such as polypropylene. The microstructure and porosity of the supports were revealed by laser scanning confocal microscopy. The increase in bamboo content resulted in increased mechanical stability, decreased swelling, and enhanced permeance, up to 1068 ± 32 L m-2 h-1 bar-1 in water. The long-term chemical stability of membrane supports was verified in 19 of the 25 organic solvents screened. In particular, they were found to be stable in some conventional and emerging green polar aprotic solvents including Cyrene, 2-methyltetrahydrofuran, ?-valerolactone, and propylene carbonate. Stable cross-flow filtration performance over 2 weeks was successfully demonstrated. The results demonstrated that the bamboo/PLA membrane supports could provide a sustainable alternative for conventional membrane backing materials by eliminating the need for petroleum-based nondegradable polymers and toxic solvents.Citation
Le Phuong, H. A., Izzati Ayob, N. A., Blanford, C. F., Mohammad Rawi, N. F., & Szekely, G. (2019). Nonwoven Membrane Supports from Renewable Resources: Bamboo Fiber Reinforced Poly(Lactic Acid) Composites. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 7(13), 11885–11893. doi:10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b02516Sponsors
The authors thank the experimental support provided by Dr. Ben Spencer (white light interferometer) and Mr. Abdulaziz Alammar (TGA) both from the University of Manchester, and Dr. Wei Xu and Dr. Sang-Hee Park (confocal microscopy) from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). Fruitful discussions with Mr. Levente Cseri from the University of Manchester is greatly acknowledged. The authors gratefully acknowledge Dr. Azniwati Abdul Aziz for her advice on the preparation method of bamboo/PLA composites. HALP acknowledges the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) for funding her doctoral studies through the University of Manchester’s doctoral training account administered by their School of Materials. Figure 1 and the graphical abstract were created by Heno Hwang, scientific illustrator at KAUST.Publisher
American Chemical SocietyAdditional Links
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b02516ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b02516