Study of Effects of Low Doses UV Radiation on Microporous Polysulfone Membranes in Sterilization Process

Synthetic membranes have gained an important place in chemical technology and are used in a broad range of applica- tions. UV irradiation is an age old process used for disinfection as well as for sterilization purposes. It is used for steril- izing equipment in which polysulfone (PSf) membranes are used. As a result, short time UV irradiation of polymer membranes has acquired importance in recent times. In the present study, microporous polysulfone membranes with 0.108 mm thickness have been prepared using phase inversion method. Effect of UV irradiation on the membranes for short time intervals (0 - 60 minutes) has been investigated using UV-Vis and FTIR spectrophotometer, and SEM. The performance of the membranes has studied by filtration techniques. UV-Vis and IR spectra analysis and SEM images obtained suggest that chains scission and crosslink have occurred simultaneously in the irradiated membranes by UV radiation in a dose dependant manner. The pure water flux (PWF) values of irradiated membranes obtained from filtra- tion studies were higher compared to that of the control membrane. These results show that a very short UV irradiation (2 minutes) affected the physicochemical characteristics of microporous polysulfone membrane which it increases with increase in time.