Effect of air gap distance of PSF/IONPs/ALG hollow fiber membrane on morphology and antifouling properties

The study conducted on polysulfone/iron oxide/alginate (PSF/IONPs/ALG) hollow fiber (HF) membranes were spun at various air gap distances (10, 30, 50 and 70 cm) for membrane morphology and anti-fouling properties in hemodialysis application. PSF/IONPs/ALG membranes were fabricated using dry-wet spinning process. Hollow fiber properties were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), contact angles, and ultrafiltration measurements. SEM results show that the cross-sectional morphology of the membranes was varies significantly over various air gap distances. The structure of the outer surface became more porous as the pore size and air gap distance increased. In addition, the hydrophilicity of the membrane increased by decreasing water contact angle from 78.56ο to 48.83ο at air gap distance of 10 to 50 cm. Moreover, the pure water permeability (PWP) was improved when air gap was increased up to 50 cm before showing a decreasing pattern. Similar trends were recorded in BSA rejection and antifouling test with the highest BSA rejection and Flux recovery ratio (FRR), 96.53% and 86.37%, respectively at 50 cm air gap.