Antifouling PVDF@EA-PPDA membrane fabricated by fast one step self-assembly for fermentation broth purification

Separation membranes for purification of fermentation broths represent a significant research challenge. In order to enhance separation efficiency, a simple and rapid one-step method with self-assembly strategy for hydrophilic modified membranes was proposed. In order to shorten membrane fabrication time, ellagic acid (EA) oxidized by sodium periodate (SP) and then reacted with p-phenylenediamine (PPDA) via Michael addition and Schiff base reactions at 25 °C. A highly crosslinked hydrophilic network formed firmly adheres to PVDF substrate. According to molecular dynamic simulation, the adsorption energy for the proposed PVDF@EA-PPDA membrane with water reached −830 kcal/mol, which was 4.1 times that of pristine PVDF membrane. The modified membrane exhibited the high permeability of 11265 L m −2  h −1 ·bar −1 for water and 3450 L m −2  h −1 ·bar −1 for soy protein fermentation broth. The solids and oil rejection arrived at 99.3% and 99.9%, respectively. The developed membranes showed significant antifouling characteristics with the flux recovery rate exceeding 95%, which had promising potential for protein purification in biomedical field.