Malaysian Journal of Analytical Sciences Vol 21 No 2 (2017): 484 - 495

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17576/mjas-2017-2102-24

 

 

 

MOLECULAR WEIGHT CUT-OFF DETERMINATION OF PRESSURE FILTRATION MEMBRANES VIA COLORIMETRIC DETECTION METHOD

 

(Penentuan Berat Sekatan Molekul Bagi Membran Penurasan TekananMelalui Kaedah Pengesanan Kolorimetri)

 

Izzati Izni Yusoff, Rosiah Rohani*, Abdul Wahab Mohammad

 

Department of Chemical and Process Engineering,

 Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment,

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia

 

*Corresponding author: rosiah@ukm.edu.my

 

 

Received: 21 October 2015; Accepted: 14 June 2016

 

 

Abstract

Molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) of commercial and in-house fabricated membranes is obtained at 90% rejection of various types of solutes with different molecular weights (MWs). PEG quantification methods have been favorably employed to determine membranes’ MWCO. Most of the quantification methods utilizing high-end equipment using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and low-end colorimetric method. HPLC method requires an established chromatographic technique using specific diluents, columns and detectors while the most referred colorimetric method requires a few processing steps with concentration up to 7.5 ppm by using UV spectrophotometer. In this work, a newly modified colorimetric method was established to conduct a simple measurement for a membrane’s MWCO. The newly modified method has an excellent linearity for the calibration curves which R² values are closed to 1 with concentration of up to 150 ppm. A MWCO determination test conducted using different commercial membranes for confirming this newly modified method found that similar MWCO values were obtained as given by the membrane’ manufacturers. In conclusion, this newly modified method is simpler than the formerly used colorimetric method, reliable and applicable for determining the MWCO of membranes ranging from UF to NF at a higher range of PEG concentrations (>150 ppm).

 

Keywords:  molecular weight cut-off, polyethylene glycol, spectrophotometric, colorimetric, membrane

 

Abstrak

Berat sekatan molekul (MWCO) bagi membran komersial dan yang dihasilkan sendiri diperolehi pada 90% penolakan pelbagai jenis bahan larut dengan berat molekul yang berbeza (MWs). Kaedah kuantifikasi menggunakan PEG adalah yang paling digemari digunakan bagi menentukan MWCO daripada membran yang di sintesis. Kebanyakan kaedah menggunakan peralatan atasan seperti kromatografi cecair berprestasi tinggi (HPLC) dan kaedah bawahan seperti kaedah kolorimetri. Kaedah HPLC memerlukan teknik kromatografi yang tertubuh menggunakan bahan pencair, tiang dan pengesan tertentu manakala kaedah kolorimetri memerlukan beberapa langkah pemprosesan dengan kepekatan hanya dalam julat sehingga 7.5 ppm menggunakan spektrofotometer UV. Oleh yang demikian dalam kajian ini, satu kaedah kolorimetri baru yang diubahsuai telah ditubuhkan untuk mengukur MWCO membran. Kaedah ini mempunyai kelinearan yang sangat baik, di mana nilai R² menghampiri 1 dengan kepekatan sehingga 150 ppm. Ujian penentuan MWCO dijalankan menggunakan beberapa membran komersial yang berbeza untuk mengesahkan kaedah baru diubahsuai ini didapati bahawa nilai MWCO yang sama telah diperolehi bagi membran, seperti yang diberikan oleh pengeluar membran. Kesimpulannya, kaedah yang baru diubahsuai ini adalah lebih mudah daripada kaedah kalorimetri yang dahulunya digunakan, boleh dipercayai dan diguna pakai bagi menentukan MWCO daripada membran NF sehingga membran UF malah pada julat kepekatan PEG yang lebih tinggi.

 

Kata kunci:  berat sekatan molekul, polietilena glikol, spektrofotometer, kolorimetri, membran

 

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