Preparation of polyamide/polyacrylonitrile composite hollow fiber membrane by synchronous procedure of spinning and interfacial polymerization

In this investigation, a new concept for fabrication polyamide (PA)/polyacrylonitrile (PAN) composite hollow fiber membrane by using a triple orifice spinneret was explored. Tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA) and trimesoyl chloride (TMC) were used as the monomers of aqueous solution and acid chloride solution, respectively. The PAN dope, TEPA solution and TMC solution were pumped into the outermost, middle and inner channel of the triple orifice spinneret, respectively, and then co-extruded into water from the outlet of the spinneret simultaneously. The PA layer then was formed on the lumen surface of the synchronous wet-spun PAN hollow fiber membrane. SiO2 was added into the dope to increase the hydrophilicity of the dope. The resultant PA/PAN composite hollow fibers were characterized by using FTIR-ATR, SEM, light transmission, contact angle and positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS). The effects of SiO2 content, TEPA concentration, as well as the TEPA solution flow rate on the properties and pervaporation performances of resultant PA/PAN composite hollow fibers were investigated. The PA layer was completely attached to the lumen surface of the resulted hollow fibers through the spinning and interfacial polymerization synchronous procedure. The pervaporation performances with 419 g/m2h of permeation flux and 96.6 wt% of water content in permeate of the 90 wt% aqueous isopropanol solution at 25 °C can be obtained through the synchronous fabricated PA/PAN composite hollow fiber membrane which was fabricated by the 18 wt% PAN dope containing 5 wt% SiO2, 1 ml/min of 14 wt% TEPA solution and 2 ml/min of 1 wt% TMC solution.