Influence of the casting parameters on the membrane morphological characteristics

During the last century, the importance of membranes has increased drastically in our society; following this trend, their use in everyday life and in the industrial sector has dramatically rised. Consequently, membranes have been object of study in order to develop new material with new characteristics. This work aims at improving a current GVS portfolio-product, by developing a new filter based on alternative material and to substitute a competitor 3 membrane, whose production will be stopped due to the PerFluoroOctanoic Acid content, in a medical device that has to retain human urine. Firstly, the new polymer was studied, in order to understand how it affects membrane properties; once the basic information were obtained, we moved to analyze the influence of all the parameters in the solution preparation and in the casting process. Additionally, we have analyzed and selected the most appropriate membrane support and casting knife, to produce the most reliable membrane. Once we checked all the parameter, a first industrial trial was done based on the knowledge previously obtained; later, the trial has been analyzed to verify the stability of the product and to confirm the success of the industrial scale-up. The industrial trial has been compared with competitors’ membrane after urine test were carried out; the industrial trial showed superior results compared to the other membrane. Later we analyzed the impact of a standard laboratory testing protein on membranes, to observe if they were the main responsible for the pore occlusion after urine contact. Competitor 3 retains the same amount of protein of other membrane, for this reason, the hypothesis previously made was rejected.