A facile and environmental-friendly strategy for preparation of poly (tetrafluoroethylene-co-hexafluoropropylene) hollow fiber membrane and its membrane emulsification performance

Membrane technology as a highly efficient and powerful tool has been widely used in many industrial still faces toxic organic solvents issues. We developed a facile, efficient and environmental-friendly approach to implement poly (tetrafluoroethylene-co-hexafluoropropylene) (FEP) hollow fiber membrane using melt-spinning technique without any solvent and diluent involved in membrane preparation process. In particular, the compound pore-forming agents including polyethylene oxide (PEO) and calcium chloride (CaCl2) were completely water-soluble and obtained by ball milling blending which presented favorable environmental profiles. A series of characterizations were conducted regarding the morphologies, pore size distribution, porosity and hydrophobicity of the prepared membranes. Also, given the advantages of both oleophilicity and hydrophobicity, narrow pore size distribution as well as inherent thermal and solvent resistant, the prepared FEP membranes were used in membrane emulsification system for the first time. The results showed that the FEP membranes with mean pore size of 0.461 μm showed good performance in director membrane emulsification application by reason of its suitable pore size distribution and stable hydrophobic surface of FEP membranes. The obtained emulsion had narrow droplet size distribution and high stability. So these promising results demonstrate that the technique developed in this study is potentially applicable in membrane emulsification process.