Miscibility of polysulfone/poly(1-vinylpyrrolidone-co-styrene) blends and their application to the ultrafiltration membrane

Miscibility of polysulfone (PSf) with various hydrophilic copolymers was explored. Among these blends, PSf gives homogeneous mixtures with poly(1-vinylpyrrolidone-co-styrene) copolymers [P(VP-S)] when these copolymers contained VP from 68 to 88 wt%. Microporous membranes for the ultrafiltration process were prepared from PSf blends with P(VP-S) copolymers. The membranes prepared from the PSf/P(VP-S) blends exhibited higher water flux than the membranes prepared from PSI irrespective of the VP content. The solute rejection examined with the membranes fabricated from the miscible blends was similar to that of PSf membrane. However, the solute rejection examined with the membranes fabricated from the immiscible blends was lower than that of PSf membranes.