Noresah Said, Hasrinah Hasbullah, Muhammad Nidzhom Zainol Abidin, Ahmad Fauzi Ismail, Pei Sean Goh, Mohd Hafiz Dzarfan Othman, Siti Hamimah Sheikh Abdul Kadir, Fatmawati Kamal, Mohd Sohaimi Abdullah, Be Cheer Ng
Protein existence in wastewater is an important issue in wastewater management because proteins are generally present as contaminants and foulants. Hence, in this study, we focused on designing a polysulfone (PSf) hollow‐fiber membrane embedded with hydrophilic iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) for protein purification by means of ultrafiltration. Before membrane fabrication, the dispersion stability of the IONPs was enhanced by the addition of a stabilizer, namely, citric acid (CA). Next, PSf–IONP–CA nanocomposite hollow‐fiber membranes were prepared via a dry–wet spinning process and then characterized in terms of their hydrophilicity and morphology. Ultrafiltration and adsorption experiments were then conducted with bovine serum albumin as a model protein. The results that an IONP/CA weight ratio of 1:20 contributed to the most stable IONP dispersion. It was also revealed that the membrane …