Measurement and Modeling of Thermodynamic and Kinetic Data of Membrane Forming Systems

Abstract

Phase inversion process involving a ternary system (nonsolvent/solvent/ polymer) isfrequently used to prepare porous and asymmetric polymeric membranes. The thermodynamic and kinetic data for the ternary system are required to understand membrane formation mechanisms, change the preparation conditions and predict the final structure of the membranes. In this study, cloud point curves for polysulfone (PSf)/1-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone (NMP)/water, PSf/tetrahydrofurane (THF)/water, PSf/NMP/ethanol, PSf/THF/ethanol, polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)/acetone/water, PMMA/ THF/water, PMMA/acetone/formamide and PMMA/THF/formamide systems were measured by titrating polymer solutions with nonsolvents until the onset of turbidity.Binodal curves were calculated by using the Flory Huggins theory with constant interactionparameters. Theoretical ternary phase diagrams were found to be in good agreement with experimental cloud point data. In addition to liquid liquid equilibrium data, sorptionisotherms and diffusion coefficients of water, ethanol and chloroform were measured byusing a magnetic suspension balance. Results of kinetic studies have shown that water sorption in PSf films exhibits Fickian diffusion while anomalous diffusion is observed for ethanol and chloroform sorption. The kinetic data for water sorption was analyzed using a simple Fickian diffusion model to determine the diffusion coefficients. On the other hand, anamalous sorption kinetics were interpreted by a mathematical model involving independent contributions from Fickian diffusion and polymer relaxations. The model successfully fits non-Fickian anomalies including sorption overshoot and allows to determine diffusion coefficients and relaxation times. Diffusivities of penetrants in PSf was found to decrease in the following order: Water > Chloroform > Ethanol. Equilibrium sorption isotherms of ethanol and chloroform are well described by classical Flory Huggins thermodynamic theory with constant interaction parameters. A modified version of this theory for concentration dependent interaction parameter is used to correlate the sorption isotherm of water. Vrentas Duda free volume theory is able to correlate diffusivity data of water collected at 30 C and 40 C while the theory fails to correlate the diffusivities of ethanol and chloroform both of which were determined from diffusion-relaxation model.