Trimesoyl chloride

Polysulfone base membrane B1 and B2 were supplied by SEAPS Science and Technology Co., Tangshan, China, and the specific parameters are shown in Table 1. The main difference of the above two membranes is that the BSA (bovine serum albumin) rejection of the B1 membrane is 98.67%, and that of the B2 membrane is 81%, corresponding to a low water flux (112.36 Lm⁻²h⁻¹bar⁻¹) and a high-water flux (677.52 Lm⁻²h⁻¹bar⁻¹), respectively. Polysulfone (Ultrason S 6010, Mw = 60,000 g/mol and glass transition temperature T_g = 187 °C) was supplied by BASF China (Mainland) (Shanghai, China). N-N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc ≥99.5%), and polyethylene glycol (average Mn 600) were obtained from Sinopharm (Shanghai, China). 4-formylbenzoic acid (98%), trimesoyl chloride (98%) and pyrrole (99%) were purchased from SIGMA-ALDRICH (Shanghai, China). Propionic acid, sodium hydroxide, hydrogen chloride, tetrahydrofuran, sodium bicarbonate and hexane were obtained from Sinopharm. Bovine serum albumin (BSA, pI = 4.8, Mw = 67,000 g mol⁻¹) was obtained from Shanghai LanJi (Shanghai, China). All chemicals were used as received. Deionized (DI) water (18.2 MΩ cm) was used throughout the experiment.

Polyethersulfone (PES) (Veradel 3000P) was purchased from BASF Co. (Oudenaarde, Belgium). Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO, 99.5%) from Sigma-Aldrich (Diegem, Belgium) was used as solvent for the dope solution, and deionized water was used as the solvent and coagulant for ultrafiltration (UF) membrane fabrication. Tris(3-aminoethyl)amine (TAEA, ≥97%), piperazine (PIP, 99%), trimesoyl chloride (TMC, 98%), and n-hexane (95%) purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (Diegem, Belgium) were used to prepare PA TFC membranes. Various salts including magnesium chloride (MgCl₂), magnesium sulfate (MgSO₄, 99%), sodium chloride (NaCl, 99%), and sodium sulfate (Na₂SO₄, 99%) from Sigma-Aldrich (Diegem, Belgium) were used to test salt rejection at an inlet concentration of 1.0 g L⁻¹. Unless specified, the aqueous solutions were prepared by deionized water purified through a Milli-Q ultrapure unit (Darmstadt, Germany).

Polysulfone (PSU, M_W = 35,000) and N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF, 99.8%) were obtained from Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA and used in PSU support fabrication. m-Phenylenediamine (MPD, ≥99%, Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA) and trimesoyl chloride (TMC, ≥98.5%, Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA) were used as raw materials to synthesis the PA film. TiO₂ nanoparticles (<100 nm, Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA) were added as fillers into membrane surface. Humic acid (HA, Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA) was used in fouling test.

The polyimide polymer Matrimid^® 5218 (Vantico Inc.), solvent N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone (NMP, >99.5%, Merck) and non-solvent polyethylene glycol 400 (PEG 400, M_w = 400 g mol⁻¹, Merck) were utilized to fabricate the membrane substrate. 1, 6-Hexanediamine (HDA, >98%) was purchased from Alfa-Aesar to crosslink the substrate. M-phenylenediamine (MPD, >99%), trimesoylchloride (TMC, >98%) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS, >99%) were ordered from Sigma-Aldrich and employed for the interfacial polymerization reaction. LiCl (>99%, Sigma-Aldrich), CA (>99%, Sigma-Aldrich), DEA (>99%, Sigma-Aldrich), PEG 1000 (M_w = 1000 g mol⁻¹, Merck) and methyl palmitate (>97.0%, Tokyo Chemical Industry) were utilized as the draw solutes. Ethanol (HPLC grade), isopropanol (IPA, HPLC grade), and n-hexane (HPLC grade) were ordered from Fisher Scientific and employed as the solvents to evaluate the membrane performance. Tetracycline (≥98.0 %, Sigma-Aldrich) and industrial sample, triglycerides from soybean oil (liquid, GIIAVA Singapore), were used as the model feed solutes. The commercial OSN membrane DuraMem 300 obtained from Evonik was utilized for transport mechanism studies. The deionized (DI) water was produced by a Milli-Q ultrapure water system (Millipore, USA). All chemicals were used as received.

Microporous PES (0.45 µm, Millipore Express) and n-hexane were purchased from MERCK (Darmstadt, Germany). Trimesoyl chloride (TMC), hexamethylenediamine (HMD), adipoyl chloride (ADC), piperazine (PIP), and 17β-Estradiol (E2) were obtained from Sigma Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA). Ethanol and toluene were purchased from VWR (Radnor, PA, USA). Deionized water in Millipore® quality was used for all steps. All materials were used as they were received from suppliers.

Aluminium nitrate and ammonium hydroxide solution (NH₄OH) were purchased from Merck Chemicals Co., Darmstadt, Germany. Polysulfone was purchased from Solvay advanced polymers, USA. M-phenylenediamine (99.4%), n-hexane (high purity, 97%), Polysorbates-80 (polyoxyethylene sorbitan monooleate, Tween-80), Trimesoyl chloride (98.5%), Sodium laurylsulfate (SLS, CH₃(CH₂)₁₁SO₄Na), Na₂SO₄, MgSO₄, MgCl₂, and NaCl were all brought from Sigma-Aldrich. All solvents used in this work were of high purity acquired from Sigma-Aldrich. Other chemicals in the present study were of analytical grade utilized as it is without any further purification.