title: Effect of Hydration Forces on Protein Fouling of Ultrafiltration Membranes: The Role of Protein Charge, Hydrated Ion Species, and Membrane Hydrophilicity.
abstract: To investigate the influence of hydration forces on the protein fouling of membranes and the major influence factors of hydration forces during the ultrafiltration process, bovine serum albumin (BSA) was chosen as model foulant. For various pH levels and hydrated ion and membrane species, the membrane-BSA and BSA-BSA interaction forces, and fouling experiments with BSA, as a function of ionic strength, were measured. Results showed that hydration forces were a universal phenomenon during the membrane filtration process, when the levels of pH, ion species, and membrane performances were appropriate. First, for the BSA negatively charged or neutral, hydration forces caused a decrease in the membrane fouling. Conversely, for the BSA positively charged, the hydration forces were absent because the counterions were not hydrated, and membrane fouling was enhanced. For different hydrated ions, the smaller the radii of the ions were, the stronger the hydration forces that were produced, and the membrane fouling observed was less, indicating that hydration forces are closely correlated with the size of the hydrated ions. Moreover, in comparison with a hydrophobic membrane, it is more difficult to observe hydrophilic membrane-BSA hydration forces because the hydrophilic membrane surface adsorbs water molecules, which weakens its binding efficiency to hydrated ions.
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental & Municipal Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology , Yan Ta Road. No. 13, Xi'an 710055, China.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Miao
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental & Municipal Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology , Yan Ta Road. No. 13, Xi'an 710055, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7584-8802
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental & Municipal Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology , Yan Ta Road. No. 13, Xi'an 710055, China.
authors.forename: Miao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental & Municipal Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology , Yan Ta Road. No. 13, Xi'an 710055, China.
authors.forename: Dongxu
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental & Municipal Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology , Yan Ta Road. No. 13, Xi'an 710055, China.
authors.forename: Songshan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental & Municipal Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology , Yan Ta Road. No. 13, Xi'an 710055, China.
authors.forename: Jiaxuan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental & Municipal Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology , Yan Ta Road. No. 13, Xi'an 710055, China.
authors.forename: Tingting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental & Municipal Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology , Yan Ta Road. No. 13, Xi'an 710055, China.
authors.forename: Yongtao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lv
mesh_terms: D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D055585:Physical Phenomena; D012710:Serum Albumin, Bovine / Q000737:chemistry; D014462:Ultrafiltration
chemical_list: D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D012710:Serum Albumin, Bovine