Fullerene‐Containing Polymer Membranes for Rejection of Estrogenic Compounds in Water

Abstract

Asymmetric membranes based on compositions of fullerene C₆₀ and hydrophobic polymer, polyphenylene oxide containing up to 10 wt.% C₆₀, were prepared with the aim of study on removing estrogenic pollutants from water. Efficiency of asymmetric membranes to estrone rejection was estimated in adsorption and ultrafiltration processes. Membrane containing 2 wt.% C₆₀ showed the fastest adsorption rate in the limiting adsorption stage. In the dead‐end filtration, all kinds of membranes demonstrated very good estrone rejection (more than 95%). Fullerene‐containing membranes exhibited higher flux than pure polyphenylene oxide membranes.

Keywords:

• Membrane
• estrogens
• rejection
• ultrafiltration
• adsorption

Acknowledgments

This work was carried out in the framework of OFN RAS Program “New materials and structures” project “Formation mechanisms and properties of fullerene containing polymer membranes,” Federal scientific program “Research and development in major area of science and technology” and Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grant no. 03‐03‐32379).