ABSTRACT
Cellulose acetate (CA) is highly comparable
hemodialysis process. In this work, asymmetric CA membranes
were synthesized with the phase-inversion method.
CA with a molecular weight of 52,000, poly(ethylene glycol)
(PEG) with a molecular weight of 400, and 1-methyl-
2-pyrrolidone (NMP) were used as the polymer, additive,
and solvent, respectively. The effects of the CA and PEG
concentrations and coagulation bath temperature (CBT) on
the morphology, pure water permeability (PWP), insulin/
human serum albumin (HSA) transmission, and finally
thermal and chemical stability of the prepared membranes
were determined and investigated. In general, increasing
the PEG concentration and CBT and reducing the CA concentration
resulted in increased PWP and insulin/HSA
transmission. Also, these variations facilitated the formation
of macrovoids in the membrane sublayer. On the
other hand, increasing the PEG and CA concentrations
and reducing CBT resulted in increased thermal and
chemical stability of the prepared membranes. Also, ratios
of 15.5/10/74.5 and 17.5/10/72.5 (w/w) for the CA/PEG/
NMP casting solutions and their immersion into coagulation
baths with CBTs of 0 and 25
in the preparation of membranes that had not only optimum
sieving properties and higher PWP but also thermal
and chemical stability better than that of conventional CA
hemodialysis membranes. to other synthetic polymer materials and is effective in the
