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Adsorption properties of aromatic compounds on polyethylene as a membrane material
Author(s) -
Kiso Y.,
Kitao T.,
Nishimura K.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-4628(19991031)74:5<1037::aid-app1>3.0.co;2-l
Subject(s) - adsorption , partition coefficient , polyethylene , membrane , microfiltration , chemistry , fouling , alkyl , capacity factor , chromatography , chemical engineering , phase (matter) , octanol , organic chemistry , biochemistry , engineering
Membrane fouling is an important problem in microfiltration processes. Although the solute adsorption on the membrane is one of the factors inducing membrane fouling, its evaluation is difficult. In this study we have attempted this evaluation using liquid chromatography with polyethylene as the stationary phase. Polyethylene is a common material of a microfiltration membrane. Aromatic compounds were retained significantly by the polyethylene stationary phase, although small amount of solute loading to the column was allowed. The logarithm of the capacity factor (log k ′) for aromatic compounds was linearly correlated with the logarithm of 1‐octanol/water partition coefficient (log K o/w ), and this indicated that the main controlling factor for the adsorption is the hydrophobic interaction. We also found that alkyl substituents and the nonplanarity of the molecular structures exerted negative effects for the adsorption. Moreover, evaluation of partition coefficient based on the surface area of the stationary phase revealed that polyethylene could adsorb aromatic compounds as much as 15 to 90 times more than octadecylsilane. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 74: 1037–1043, 1999