Removal of aromatic compounds in the aqueous solution via micellar enhanced ultrafiltration: Part 1. Behavior of nonionic surfactants

The effects of nonionic surfactants having different hydrophilicity and membranes having different hydrophobicity and molecular weight cut-off on the performance of micellar-enhanced ultrafiltration (MEUF) process were examined. A homologous series of polyethyleneglycol (PEG) alkylether having different numbers of methylene groups and ethylene oxide groups was used for nonionic surfactants. Polysulfone membranes and cellulose acetate membranes having different molecular cut-off were used for hydrophobic membranes and hydrophilic membranes, respectively. The concentration of surfactant added to pure water was fixed at the value of 100 times of critical micelle concentration (CMC). The flux through polysulfone membranes decreased remarkably due to adsorption mainly caused by hydrophobic interactions between surfactant and membrane material. The decline of solution flux for cellulose acetate membranes was not as serious as that for polysulfone membranes because of hydrophilic properties of cellulose acetate membranes. The surfactant rejections for the cellulose acetate membranes increased with decreasing membrane pore size and with increasing the hydrophobicity of surfactant. On the other hand the surfactant rejections for polysulfone membranes showed totally different rejection trends with those for cellulose acetate membranes. The surfactant rejections for the polysulfone membranes depend on the strength of hydrophobic interactions between surfactant and membrane material and molecular weight of surfactants. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.