| Abstrakt: |
There is a scientific consensus that the use of membranes for water filtration presents itself as a promising research area for removing a wide range of sedimentary and biological origin pollutants. In this context, non-biodegradable membranes have been widely used; however, they can potentially cause severe environmental problems during their life cycle, after use, at the disposal phase. Thus, biodegradable materials have arisen as new materials for membrane production. This work aimed to develop biodegradable poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) based membranes and evaluate the effect of different porogens (polysorbate 80, glucose, sodium chloride, and sodium acetate) on the pore size formation and distribution. The combination evaporation-induced phase separation/non-solvent phase separation (EIPS/NIPS) processes were used to obtain the membranes with porous network structure. Membranes were evaluated by visual aspect, Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and mechanical essays. The porogen selection also relied on a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) within a "cradle-to-gate" approach and their contributions to the global PBAT-based membranes' environmental impact. Statistical analyses were conducted to evaluate the effects of concentration and type of porogen agent employed, indicating the membrane's potential to retain Escherichia coli (E. coli), chosen as the model microorganism. Sodium chloride and sodium acetate proved to be the most suitable porogens for the intended application, with sodium chloride presenting the best environmental performance. We highlight the potential to extend these PBAT-based membranes to other bacteria, some protozoa, virus species, and suspended particles' retention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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