Agarose ultrafiltration membrane composites for size based separations
View Patent ↗The embodiments described herein relate to agarose ultrafiltration membrane composites and methods for making and using the same.
1. An agarose ultrafiltration membrane composite having a pore size less than 0.1 μm, wherein the composite comprises a porous support membrane having an asymmetric agarose layer on the porous support membrane, wherein the agarose layer comprises a thickness ranging from 1 to 100 μm, wherein the agarose layer infiltrates from 1-15 μm into at least a portion of thickness of the porous support membrane and wherein the agarose layer is comprised of a solution having zinc chloride and a crosslinking agent at a concentration ranging from 0.01 wt.-% to 1.0 wt.-%, wherein the crosslinking agent comprises divinylsulfone.
2. The agarose ultrafiltration membrane composite according to claim 1 , wherein the agarose layer comprises a thickness ranging from 1 to 20 μm.
3. The agarose ultrafiltration membrane composite of claim 1 , wherein the porous support membrane comprises woven or nonwoven polymer material.
4. The agarose ultrafiltration membrane composite of claim 3 , wherein the woven or non-woven polymer material is selected from the group consisting of polyester, polyamides, polyolefins, polyethylene (PE), polycaprolactam, poly(hexamethylene adipamide), polypropylene, aromatic polymers, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyether-ether ketone (PEEK), polysulfone, polyethersulfone (PES), halogenated polymers and, fluorinated polymers.
5. The agarose ultrafiltration membrane composite according to claim 4 , wherein the fluorinated polymer is selected from polytetrafluoroethylene and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF).
6. The agarose ultrafiltration membrane composite of claim 1 , wherein the porous support membrane comprises an average thickness ranging from 20 μm to 500 μm.