Desalination 200 (2006) 42–43

Characteristics of polycarbonate membranes with polyethylene

glycol prepared via dry/wet-phase inversion methods

Sennur Deniz
Chemical Engineering Department, Yildiz Technical University, Davutpasa cad.,
No:127, 34210, Esenler, Istanbul, Turkey
email: deniz@yildiz.edu.tr
Received 21 October 2005; accepted 2 March 2006

1. Introduction In the work, PC membranes with polyethylene

The preparation and development of mem-
branes for gas separation processes was per-
formed during the last decade. It is important that
the modifications in the physical and chemical
structures of polymeric membranes have been
made to achieve better separation characteristics.
Membrane material is a key factor for the success-
ful separation of mixture. The chemical nature,
molecular structure, physical and mechanical
properties and morphology of polymers and
copolymers affect the performance and selectivity
of resulting membrane. Identifying new mem-
brane materials and morphologies for industrial
separations has become an important research
objective [1]. The membrane structure may deter-
mine the separation mechanism and hence the
application; thus, membrane morphology is one of
the most important parameters that affects the
membrane performance. Polymer materials used
for the membrane are polycarbonate (PC) [2],
polypropylene (PP) [3], polyamide [4], polysul-
fone (PSF) [5], block copolymers [6,7], and so on
and preparation methods such as dry and wet
inversion [8,9], plasma treatment [10], inversion
in supercritical fluids [11], etc., were selected for
the porous membrane.
glycol (PEG) that have the different molecular
weights could be prepared via dry-phase and wet-
phase inversion methods. These methods were
used for casting films from solutions with varying
concentrations. Chloroform and methylene chlo-
ride were used to determine the effect of the cast-
ing solvent. The casting solutions were obtained
by dissolving PC and PEG in different composi-
tions (3–15 w/v%). PEG concentration was
ranged from 0 to 20 wt.% to investigate the effect
of PEG concentration on membrane porosity.
Effects of PEG concentration and molecular
weight, membrane thickness and temperature on
the membranes were investigated. Permeation
measurements are done with pure gases such as
N2, O2, and CO2. The membranes were character-
ized by dynamic mechanical thermal analysis
(DMTA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC),
and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The
mechanical properties were measured with ten-
sile, flexural, and impact tests and were related to
the morphology of the PC membranes.
2. Results and discussion
It was observed that the porosity of the mem-
brane increased with an increase in the initial

Presented at EUROMEMBRANE 2006, 24–28 September 2006, Giardini Naxos, Italy.

0011-9164/06/$– See front matter © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.desal.2006.03.235
 S. Deniz / Desalination 200 (2006) 42–43
PEG concentration ranging from 5 to 20 wt.%.
Porosity of the membrane with 30 µm thickness
was 71% and with an increasing membrane
thickness from 40, through 50 and 60, to 70 µm,
porosity was 69, 66, 62, and 59%, respectively.
In addition to the importance of the solvent type
and composition, the casting type and tempera-
ture affected the performance of the membrane.
It was found that the PC composition effect on
the performance of membrane obtained by dry-
phase inversion method was lower than that of
the membrane obtained by wet-phase inversion
method. The durability of the membrane obtained
by dry-phase inversion method was greater than
that of the membrane obtained by wet-phase
inversion method.
3. Conclusion
The permeation and separation performances
of PC were examined in relation to different
preparation parameters. The morphologies of the
final structures of the PC membranes changed
according to the initial PEG concentration and
molecular weight, the type of casting method, the
casting solvent, the PC concentration of the cast-
ing solution, and the solvent evaporation temper-
ature; thus, their transport properties were also
affected by these parameters. It was observed that
porosity of the membrane increased with an
increase in the initial PEG concentration ranging
from 5 to 20 wt.%. The membrane preparation
methods affected the durability and performance
of the membrane.
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