Preparation and characterization of high-hydrophilic polyhydroxy functional PP hollow fiber membrane

•Polyhydroxy functional acrylates, PEA, was grafted onto PP hollow fiber membrane.•PP-g-PEA was characterized by FTIR, XPS, SEM, water contact angle and PWF.•For PP-g-PEA, the water drop disappeared in 6.3 s, and thePWF was 4.5 times of PP.•PP-g-PEA was prepared easily and of low cost.

High-hydrophilic PP hollow fiber membrane was prepared by grafting polyhydroxy monomer 3-hydroxy-2,2-bis(hydroxymethyl)propyl acrylate (PEA) on the surface of PP. First, PEA was synthesized by direct esterification of pentaerythritol (PE) and acrylic acid (AA). Then PEA grafted PP membrane (PP-g-PEA) was prepared by continuous UV irradiation and characterized by FTIR, XPS, SEM, dynamic water contact angle and permeation of pure water. Results showed that the water drop took only 6.3 s to disappear from the surface of PP-g-PEA membrane and the pure water flux of PP-g-PEA membrane was about 4.5 times higher than the original PP. The PP-g-PEA membrane can be easily prepared and used in the fields of microfiltration and ultrafiltration process for waste water treatment, food processing and separation.

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