Antifouling characteristics of sugar immobilized polypropylene microporous membrane by activated sludge and bovine serum albumin

α-Allyl glucoside (AG) was immobilized on the polypropylene microporous membranes (PPMMs) surface by nitrogen plasma treatment. The change of surface wettability was monitored by water contact angle measurement. Water contact angle on the modified membrane showed a minimum value of 54°, approximately 74° lower than that on the unmodified membrane. With the increase of immobilization degree from 0 to 4.6 wt.%, the relative pure water flux increased first, then decreased. The maximum value of the relative pure water flux was 1.44, which occurred at the immobilization degree of 2.03 wt.%. The antifouling characteristics during the filtration of the activated sludge (AS) in a submerged membrane bioreactor (SMBR) and of bovine serum albumin (BSA) dispersion were investigated and compared. The results showed that membranes possessed the same antifouling characteristics during the filtration of AS and BSA, which demonstrated that proteins in the SMBR mixed liquor suspension played a more important role in membrane fouling.