Preparation and characterization of high-hydrophilic polyhydroxy functional PP hollow fiber membrane

High-hydrophilic PP hollow fiber membrane was prepared by grafting polyhydroxy monomer 3-hydroxy-2,2-bis(hydroxymethyl)propylacrylate (PEA) on the surface of PP. First, PEA was synthesized by direct esterification of pentaerythritol (PE) and acrylic acid (AA). Then PEA grafted PP membrane (PP-g-PEA) was prepared by continuous UV irradiation and characterized by FTIR, XPS, SEM, dynamic water contact angle and permeation of pure water. Results showed that the water drop took only 6.3 s to disappear from the surface of PP-g-PEA membrane and the pure water flux of PP-g-PEA membrane was about 4.5 times higher than the original PP. The PP-g-PEA membrane can be easily prepared and used in the fields of microfiltration and ultrafiltration process for waste water treatment, food processing and separation. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.