Biomass rhamnolipid modified poly(vinylidene fluoride) membrane with significantly improved surface hydrophilicity and enhanced antifouling performance

Membrane fouling could result in severe decline of performance and increase of operation cost. Therefore, it is of great practical significance to enhance the antifouling property through improving the hydrophilicity of the membrane surface. In this work, we report the first attempt of chemically grafting the industrialized biosurfactant rhamnolipid onto the surface of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membranes. Results showed that the hydrophilicity of the PVDF membrane was greatly improved through surface grafting. In the subsequent filtration experiments toward both BSA solution and surfactin fermentation broth, the rhamnolipid-modified membranes exhibited much better antifouling performances. Further analysis showed that the grafting of rhamnolipid improved the antifouling properties mainly through reducing the total fouling and especially the irreversible fouling. We reckon our work as an important contribution to the design of membrane with enhanced antifouling performance. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.