Fabrication and characterization of cellulose acetate ultrafiltration membrane and its application for efficient bovine serum albumin separation

To solve the easy contamination problem of ultrafiltration membranes during protein separation, a series of cellulose acetate (CA) ultrafiltration membranes with different pore morphology and structure were successfully prepared by combining solution casting, non-solvent-induced phase inversion, and pore-forming agent leached out technologies. The effects of molecule weight and the content of porogen polyethylene glycol (PEG) on the pore morphology, chemical composition, and wettability of the CA ultrafiltration membrane were systematically studied. The feed permeability, bovine serum albumin rejection, and anti-fouling ability were also investigated. The results showed that the CA10k membrane has the highest pure water flux of 877.5 L/m(2)h.bar, largest bovine serum albumin (BSA) rejection of 96.5% and flux recovery rate of 90.9% when the PEG molecule weight and content are 10 kDa and 10 wt%. Those results showed that the CA ultrafiltration membranes have great application prospects in the BSA separation area.