Development of novel chitosan-based hollow fiber membranes for applications in water treatment and bioengineering

Abstract

Membrane technology plays an important role in water treatment as well as in many other industrial applications nowadays. Conventional membranes that separate components based on the size-exclusion mechanism usually have low selectivity and also result in high energy consumption when the dimensions of the components to be separated from the bulk fluid is similar or small, or a specific type of molecules is to be separated from a complex mixture. Adsorptive membranes (or sometimes called membrane adsorbents) are a more effective and energy-saving alternative to the conventional filtration-based membrane technology, particularly for the above mentioned applications. Adsorptive membranes utilize the affinity between membranes and the substances to be separated or concentrated as the working mechanism, which effectively leads to high process selectivity and low energy consumption.

In this study, novel adsorptive hollow fiber membranes based on chitosan (CS), a highly reactive and naturally abundant biopolymer, were successfully developed with many unique advantages, including high adsorption capacity, high mechanical strength, porous structure and good reusability. The prepared membranes were studied for their applications in such as heavy metal removal and enzyme immobilization, etc. The results showed that the developed adsorptive membranes with high CS content, porous structure and improved mechanical strength, have a great potential for their applications in water treatment as well as in bioengineering fields.