Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs)
for the Fabrication of Filtration Membranes
Pacôme Tomietto, Patrick Loulergue, Lydie Paugam,
and Jean-Luc Audic
Abstract
Undoubtedly, in our current society, the development of
more sustainable materials has to be considered in many
applications. In this chapter, the interest of new potential
biomaterials intended for the fabrication of filtration
membranes is discussed. A focus is made on the
polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) polymers family. These
biobased and biodegradable polyesters have gained
attention in the past few years thanks to their versatile
properties. Up to date, they have shown promising results
for the fabrication of pervaporation and liquid filtration
membranes. The membrane performances could be tuned
by the use of PHAs having different comonomer contents
and by the addition of proper additives. By discussing
what has been developed in other application areas, such
as biomedical and packaging, some insights are suggested
in order to improve the overall PHAs-based membranes
properties. Hence, the first part will deal with the
membrane technologies and the current polymeric materials used. A second part will highlight the interest of
biopolymers. Then, the properties and potential applications of PHAs in the membrane manufacture will be
discussed.
1 Introduction
1.1 Membrane Technologies
The term membrane refers here to synthetic membranes used
in separation processes. It can be defined as a selective
barrier between two mediums which allows to separate
and/or to concentrate components from a solution or a
suspension when applying a driving force. Membrane
technologies are mainly recognized as energy-efficient processes, compared to thermal processes which involve a
phase change (Macedonio and Drioli 2017). They can be
applied either for separation in liquid or gaseous phase. This
book chapter will mostly focus on membrane-based processes treating liquid feeds. These techniques can be classified as a function of their driving force (Table 1).
Pressure-driven processes, with the flux related to the
transmembrane pressure, refer to the most industrially
implemented membranes processes. For instance, about 80%
of desalination plants currently use the reverse osmosis
(RO) technology (Macedonio and Drioli 2017). The
concentration-driven processes work with a concentration
difference between the two separated media and have a flux
related to the diffusion coefficient of the different species
involved in the separation. Then, thermally-driven processes
work thanks to a temperature difference inducing a vapor
pressure difference between both sides of the membrane
(Cath 2010). In the case of electrically-driven processes, an
electrical potential difference is applied and the flux is
related to the mobilities, in the membrane, of the charged
particles involved. Further in this chapter, pressure-driven
processes and pervaporation will be mainly discussed as
potential applications for PHAs-based membranes.
It may be pointed out that membrane technologies are
quite recent and have required several development steps
before being of industrial interest. Some of the key historical
developments of separation membrane technologies are
mentioned in Fig. 1.
To get an industrial interest, membranes filtration must
present a high permeation flux coupled with a high rejection.
Historically, it has been possible thanks to the works of Loeb
and Sourirajan (1963; Loeb 1981), in the 1960s, who
developed a new membrane fabrication process called phase
inversion. This process has led to integral asymmetric
structures showing high permeation flux and high rejection
thus leading to the first uses of membranes at industrial
P. Tomietto Á P. Loulergue (&) Á L. Paugam Á J.-L. Audic
Univ Rennes, Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Rennes,
CNRS, ISCR – UMR 6226, F-35000 Rennes, France
e-mail: patrick.loulergue.1@univ-rennes1.fr
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
Z. Zhang et al. (eds.), Membrane Technology Enhancement for Environmental Protection
and Sustainable Industrial Growth, Advances in Science, Technology & Innovation,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41295-1_11
177
for the Fabrication of Filtration Membranes
Pacôme Tomietto, Patrick Loulergue, Lydie Paugam,
and Jean-Luc Audic
Abstract
Undoubtedly, in our current society, the development of
more sustainable materials has to be considered in many
applications. In this chapter, the interest of new potential
biomaterials intended for the fabrication of filtration
membranes is discussed. A focus is made on the
polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) polymers family. These
biobased and biodegradable polyesters have gained
attention in the past few years thanks to their versatile
properties. Up to date, they have shown promising results
for the fabrication of pervaporation and liquid filtration
membranes. The membrane performances could be tuned
by the use of PHAs having different comonomer contents
and by the addition of proper additives. By discussing
what has been developed in other application areas, such
as biomedical and packaging, some insights are suggested
in order to improve the overall PHAs-based membranes
properties. Hence, the first part will deal with the
membrane technologies and the current polymeric materials used. A second part will highlight the interest of
biopolymers. Then, the properties and potential applications of PHAs in the membrane manufacture will be
discussed.
1 Introduction
1.1 Membrane Technologies
The term membrane refers here to synthetic membranes used
in separation processes. It can be defined as a selective
barrier between two mediums which allows to separate
and/or to concentrate components from a solution or a
suspension when applying a driving force. Membrane
technologies are mainly recognized as energy-efficient processes, compared to thermal processes which involve a
phase change (Macedonio and Drioli 2017). They can be
applied either for separation in liquid or gaseous phase. This
book chapter will mostly focus on membrane-based processes treating liquid feeds. These techniques can be classified as a function of their driving force (Table 1).
Pressure-driven processes, with the flux related to the
transmembrane pressure, refer to the most industrially
implemented membranes processes. For instance, about 80%
of desalination plants currently use the reverse osmosis
(RO) technology (Macedonio and Drioli 2017). The
concentration-driven processes work with a concentration
difference between the two separated media and have a flux
related to the diffusion coefficient of the different species
involved in the separation. Then, thermally-driven processes
work thanks to a temperature difference inducing a vapor
pressure difference between both sides of the membrane
(Cath 2010). In the case of electrically-driven processes, an
electrical potential difference is applied and the flux is
related to the mobilities, in the membrane, of the charged
particles involved. Further in this chapter, pressure-driven
processes and pervaporation will be mainly discussed as
potential applications for PHAs-based membranes.
It may be pointed out that membrane technologies are
quite recent and have required several development steps
before being of industrial interest. Some of the key historical
developments of separation membrane technologies are
mentioned in Fig. 1.
To get an industrial interest, membranes filtration must
present a high permeation flux coupled with a high rejection.
Historically, it has been possible thanks to the works of Loeb
and Sourirajan (1963; Loeb 1981), in the 1960s, who
developed a new membrane fabrication process called phase
inversion. This process has led to integral asymmetric
structures showing high permeation flux and high rejection
thus leading to the first uses of membranes at industrial
P. Tomietto Á P. Loulergue (&) Á L. Paugam Á J.-L. Audic
Univ Rennes, Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Rennes,
CNRS, ISCR – UMR 6226, F-35000 Rennes, France
e-mail: patrick.loulergue.1@univ-rennes1.fr
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
Z. Zhang et al. (eds.), Membrane Technology Enhancement for Environmental Protection
and Sustainable Industrial Growth, Advances in Science, Technology & Innovation,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41295-1_11
177