Wet poly(vinyl chloride) membrane

Wet, porous, and semipermeable poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) membrane prepared from a binary system, PVC and dimethylformamide, by immersing in alcohols or ethers was studied. The pore dimensions of the wet PVC membrane were from 0.01 to 0.05 μm, calculated from hydrodynamic permeability by using experimental values such as water flux and water content. They agreed reasonably well with the dimension of the pores which prevented the protein passing through the membrane, observed by SEM photographs. Formation of the wet PVC membrane can be explained by slow phase separation and slow leaching of the casting solution immersed in alcohols and ethers such as methanol and ethylene glycol monomethyl ether.