Cellulose acetate/sericin blend membranes for use in dialysis

The objective of this research is to synthesize cellulose acetate (CA) based membranes for hemodialysis. It is planned to blend sericin with CA to make CA/sericin blend membranes for examining the increment in dialysis efficiency of CA. Afterwards contact angle measurement, porosity, molecular weight cutoff, pure water flux and water uptake of blend membranes are determined to check the change in CA matrix after modification. Moreover, the surface morphology of CA/sericin blend membranes examined using SEM, AFM and FTIR analysis. These results reveal successful and homogenous blending of sericin in CA. The Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) rejection and urea clearance of CA/sericin blend membranes were investigated to view their applicability in dialysis operation. Furthermore, concentration of sericin is varied in CA/sericin blend membranes and its impact was inspected on BSA rejection and Urea clearance. It is observable that M4 is showing best results among all prepared membranes. The increase of 7.5% sericin in CA matrix remarkably augments the BSA rejection and urea clearance up to 96 and 60%, respectively. Mainly protein nature of both sericin and BSA is responsible for the notable BSA rejection of CA/sericine blend membranes. Conclusively, the present study is novel and considerably applicable in wide range of dialysis procedure.