Facile modification of polysulfone hollow‐fiber membranes via the incorporation of well‐dispersed iron oxide nanoparticles for protein purification

Protein existence in wastewater is an important issue in wastewater management because proteins are generally present as contaminants and foulants. Hence, in this study, we focused on designing a polysulfone (PSf) hollow‐fiber membrane embedded with hydrophilic iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) for protein purification by means of ultrafiltration. Before membrane fabrication, the dispersion stability of the IONPs was enhanced by the addition of a stabilizer, namely, citric acid (CA). Next, PSf–IONP–CA nanocomposite hollow‐fiber membranes were prepared via a dry–wet spinning process and then characterized in terms of their hydrophilicity and morphology. Ultrafiltration and adsorption experiments were then conducted with bovine serum albumin as a model protein. The results that an IONP/CA weight ratio of 1:20 contributed to the most stable IONP dispersion. It was also revealed that the membrane incorporated with IONP–CA at a weight ratio of 1:20 exhibited the highest pure water permeability (58.6 L m −2 h −1 bar −1 ) and protein rejection (98.5%) while maintaining a low protein adsorption (3.3 μg/cm 2 ). The addition of well‐dispersed IONPs enhanced the separation features of the PSf hollow‐fiber membrane for protein purification. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136 , 47502.