A low cost porous polyvinylbutyral membrane for BSA adsorption

In this work, a feasible membrane was prepared in uniform thickness for the range 120-145 μm from a commercial resin, Mowital® B30HH (polyvinylbutyral) using phase inversion technique. For the production of the membrane, the most appropriate solvent, polymer concentration, temperature and the composition of casting solution were investigated. Macroporous membranes were produced with 6-20% (w/v) polymer concentration using N,N-dimethylacedamid and water as the solvent and casting solution, respectively, at 20 °C, determined to be the optimum chemicals and conditions. It was found that pore size, pore density, water permeation rate, water content, and elongation of the membranes decreased while breakpoint stress increased with the increase of polymer concentration. FT-IR studies proved the abundance of hydroxyl groups on the membrane surface, which were activated later by glutaraldehyde for bovine serum albumin (BSA) separation. Preliminary adsorption runs were conducted at pH 5.0, determined to be the optimum for BSA adsorption, with the membrane prepared at 9% polymer concentration in a batch reactor. For 10 mg/ml initial BSA concentration, the adsorbed BSA was calculated as 427 μg/cm2 (35.44 mg/ml membrane) denoting a remarkable capacity for BSA adsorption compare to those of other membranes in literature.