PVDF hollow fiber membranes prepared from green diluent via thermally induced phase separation: Effect of PVDF molecular weight

Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) specimens of different molecular weights, along with tributyl O-acetyl citrate (ATBC) as green diluent, were used to prepare hollow fiber membranes by thermally induced phase separation (TIPS). By increasing the quenching bath temperature, the overall porosity increased and the tensile strength of the hollow fiber membranes decreased, whereas the washing temperature did not affect these properties. High molecular weight PVDF enhanced the mechanical properties and reduced porosity of the resulting hollow fiber membranes. Hollow fiber membranes were prepared with a very sharp pore size distribution and used for direct contact membrane distillation to demonstrate one of the potential applications of this membrane. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.