The selection of materials for hollow fiber ultrafiltration membranes is a core factor determining their separation performance, durability, and applicable scenarios. It requires comprehensive consideration of the material's physicochemical properties, operating conditions, and economics to achieve a precise match between the membrane and application requirements.
Organic polymer materials dominate the market due to their flexible processing and controllable costs. Polysulfone (PSF) boasts high mechanical strength, excellent chemical stability, and a wide temperature range (-10℃ to 80℃). It exhibits good resistance to most acids, alkalis, and oxidants, and is often used as a base membrane support layer, suitable for conventional water treatment and industrial wastewater pretreatment. Polyethersulfone (PES) exhibits strong hydrophilicity and high flux; its low protein adsorption characteristics make it excellent in fields with high cleanliness requirements, such as biopharmaceuticals (e.g., vaccine purification) and food and beverages (e.g., juice clarification). Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) demonstrates outstanding hydrophilicity and antifouling capabilities, making it suitable for treating oily wastewater and low-turbidity water sources. Cellulose acetate (CA) has excellent biocompatibility and was once widely used in pharmaceutical formulation separation, but its weak temperature and pH adaptability has led to its gradual replacement by modified materials. In recent years, modified polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), through blending or surface grafting to enhance hydrophilicity, and possessing long-term stability against strong acids and alkalis and chlorine oxidation, has become a preferred choice in high-end water treatment fields.
Inorganic materials, represented by ceramics (such as alumina and zirconium oxide), possess ultra-high mechanical strength, high temperature resistance (>200℃), and strong corrosion resistance, maintaining stability under extreme conditions such as high-temperature fermentation broth treatment and purification of strong acid/alkali media. However, their high manufacturing cost and brittleness limit their large-scale adoption.
Material selection must be tailored to specific scenarios: organic membranes excel in flexibility and cost-effectiveness, dominating conventional water treatment and food processing; inorganic membranes, on the other hand, are positioned in specialized fields due to their durability. In the future, optimizing material properties through technologies such as nanocompositing and biomimetic modification will further expand the application boundaries of hollow fiber ultrafiltration membranes, providing better solutions for the separation of complex systems.
