Effect of Ethylene Glycol as Pore Former on Polyphenylsulfone Hollow Fiber Membrane for Crude Palm Oil Deacidification through Membrane Contactor

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Sime Darby Research Sdn Bhd

2 Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM)

Abstract

In this study, polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) hollow fiber membrane was fabricated via a wet spinning method with the addition of ethylene glycol (EG) in the range of 0-10 wt% as the additive. The EG was added to improve the membrane pore formation and interconnectivity for better membrane contactor performance in extracting and removing the free fatty acid (FFA) from crude palm oil (CPO). Four different hollow fiber membranes consisted of 14PPSU-0EG, 14PPSU-2EG, 14PPSU-6EG and 14PPSU-10EG were characterized for their morphologies, wettability and pore sizes. From the characterization, it was proven that the presence of EG has promoted the formation of more uniform interconnected finger-like structure with double-layer membrane morphology. In membrane contactor performance testing, sodium hydroxide (NaOH) was used as liquid extractant due to the high affinity of free fatty acid (FFA) towards NaOH. Unfortunately, the new developed PPSU hollow fiber membrane with the presence of EG has significantly (P<0.05) reduced the membrane contactor performance from 16.54% FFA removal using 14PPSU-0EG to less than 5% FFA removal in the treated CPO permeate after 3 hours operation. It may be due to a significant (P<0.05) reduction in membrane hydrophobicity which reduced the oil wettability and interfacial contact between CPO and NaOH at the membrane interface. Nevertheless, no soap formation was detected in the permeate collection.

Graphical Abstract

Effect of Ethylene Glycol as Pore Former on Polyphenylsulfone Hollow Fiber Membrane for Crude Palm Oil Deacidification through Membrane Contactor

Highlights

-EG assisted in the formation of more uniform interconnected finger-like membrane structure

-Increasing EG concentration had reduced the hydrophobicity of 14PPSU membrane

-14PPSU membrane contactor allow the oil to wet the membrane layer and prevent the NaOH (liquid extractant) from penetrate into CPO stream for FFA removal

-No soap formation detected in the permeate sample collection

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

[1]C.d.Coutinho, M. Chiu, R. Basso, A.B. Ribeiro, L. Gonçalves, L. Viotto, State of art of the application of membrane technology to vegetable oils: A review, Food Res. Int.  42 (2009) 536 - 550.
[2] S.S. Koseoglu, D.E. Engelgau, Membrane application and research in the edible oil industry: An assessment. J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc. 67 (1990) 239 - 249.
[3] L.P. Raman, N. Rajagopalan, M. Cheryan, Membrane technology in vegetable oil processing, Fat and Oils Intern.6 (1994) 28 - 38.
[4] A.R. Ladhe, N.S.K. Kumar, Application of membrane technology in vegetable oil processing, Membr. Tech. (2010) 63 – 78.
[5] B. Bhosle, R. Subramanian, New approaches in deacidification of edible oils––A review, J. Food Eng. 69 (2005) 481–494.
[6] L. Lin, S. Koseoglu, Membrane processing of fats & oils, In: F. Shahidi (Ed.), Bailey's industrial oils & fats products (6 ed.), John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2005.
[7] J.B. Snape, M. Nakajima, Processing of agricultural fats and oils using membrane technology, J. Food Eng. 30 (1996) 1-41.
[8] R. Ceriani, A. Meirelles, Simulation of continuous refiners for edible oil deacidification, J. Food Eng.76 (2006) 261 – 271.
[9] M. Cheryan, Membrane technology in the vegetable oil industry, Membr. Tech. 2 (2005) 5-7.
[10] H.J. Zwijnenberga, A.M. Krosse, K. Ebert, V. Peinemann, F.P. Cuperus, F.P. Acetone-stable nanofiltration membranes in deacidifying vegetable oil,  J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc. 76 (1999), 83–87.
[11] S. Koike, R. Subramanian, H. Nabetani, M. Nakajima, Separation of oil constituents in organic solvents using polymeric membranes. J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc. 79 (2002) 937–942.
[12] R.R. Jala, Z. Guo, X. Xu, Separation of FFA from partially hydrogenated soybean oil hydrolysate by means of membrane processing, J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc. 88 (2011) 1053–1060.
[13] R. Subramanian, M. Nakajima, T. Kimura, T. Maekawa, Membrane process for premium quality expeller-pressed vegetable oils. Food Res. Intern. 31 (1998) 587–593.
 [14] R.A. Azmi, P.S. Goh, A.F. Ismail, W.J. Lau, B.C. Ng, N.H. Othman, A.M. Noor, M.S.A. Yusoff, Deacidification of crude palm oil using PVA-crosslinked PVDF membrane, J. Food Eng. 166 (2015) 165–173.
[15] A. Criscuoli, Membrane contactors, in: E. Drioli, L. Giorno (Eds.), Membrane operations, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2009, pp. 449 – 460.
[16] J. G. Crespo, I. M. Coelhoso, R. M. C. Viegas, Membrane contactor: membrane separation, in: I.D. Wilson, E.R. Adlard, M. Cooke, C. F. Poole (6th Eds.), Encyclopedia of Separation Science, Academic Press, San Diego, 2000, pp. 3303-3311.
[17] R. Pethrick, Compositional and failure analysis of polymers: A practical approach, In: J. Scheirs, Polymer International,  John Wiley & Sons, England, 2000, pp. 1054.
 [18] N. Jullok, S. Darvishmanesh, P. Luis, B. Van der Bruggen, The potential of pervaporation for separation of acetic acid and water mixtures using polyphenylsulphone membranes, Chem. Eng. J. 175 (2011) 306 - 315.
[19] D.B. Mosqueda-Jimenez, R.M. Narbaitz, T. Matsuura, G. Chowdhury, G. Pleizier, J.P. Santerre, Influence of processing conditions on the properties of ultrafiltration membranes, J. Membr. Sci. 231 (2004) 209-224.
[20] B. Jung, J.K. Yoon, B. Kim, H.W. Rhee, Effect of molecular weight of polymeric additives on formation, permeation properties and hypochlorite treatment of asymmetric polyacrylonitrile membranes, J. Membr. Sci. 243 (2004) 45-57.
[21] Y. Ma, F. Shi, J. Ma, M. Wu, J. Zhang, C. Gao, C. Effect of PEG additive on the morphology and performance of polysulfone ultrafiltration membranes, Desal. 272 (2012) 51–58.
[22] Z. Harun, M.R. Jamalludin, M.Z. Yunos, M.F. Shohur, A.F. Ismail, A.F. (2013). The effect of crystalline rice husk silica on polysulfone membrane for wastewater treatment, Appl. Mech. Mater. 701 (2013) 319–322.
[23] L. Pei, W. Zhao, L. Zhang, Preparation and characterization of porous poly(vinylidene fluoride) membranes for dehumidification with poly(ethylene glycol) as an additive, J. Appl. Polym. Sci.  118 (2010) 2696–2703.
 [24] J. Kim, K.J. Lee, Effect of PEG additive on membrane formation by surface inversion. J. Membr. Sci. 138 (1998) 153 – 165.
Journal of Membrane Science and Research
Volume 3, Issue 4
October 2017
Pages 291-295

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 28 June 2016
  • Revise Date: 29 August 2016
  • Accept Date: 02 September 2016

Share

How to cite

Statistics