Dear researchers,
It is clear that BSA protein is the most common solute for membrane performance examination. However, there is no reference to check the MWCO of the membranes based on BSA rejection percent as far as I know.
Of course, there are many factors that can affect this relationship such as stirring speed and cell shape. Different stirring speeds provide different shear rates and it can change the BSA rejection. BSA concentration, BSA solution pH, the time for taking the permeate sample after starting point (some researchers take the samples in the middle of permeation time, and others at final). Hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity of the membrane surface that affects the final rejection percent and many other factors. However, if a student work on this matter, it would be a perfect reference for others.
This can be an exciting topic!
To work on this topic it is necessary to determine the membrane surface pore size by a lot of different methods, such as 1) microscopic methods: AFM, SEM, TEM,... (2) bubble pressure and gas transport, (3) mercury porosimetry, (4) liquid-vapor equilibrium (5) gas-liquid equilibrium (Permporometry), and (6) liquid-solid equilibrium (Thermoporometry) for two classified membranes: 1) hydrophilic and 2) relatively hydrophobic membranes. Then, in the constant condition for BSA solution, the membranes would be examined by BSA rejection test.
A comparison of the results, probably, can provide a correlation between membrane pore size and BSA rejection. Repeating this procedure for at least ten different membranes is necessary to verify the final graph.
I am ready to collaborate with any student around the world to check the basic experiments.
Good luck!
Hi there,
I don't think BSA is the ideal protein for such experiments as it naturally tends to oligomerize and therefore it's apparent MW does vary with the experimental conditions (including protein concentration). Furthermore BSA conformation changes drastically with pH. And finally it naturally tends to stick to membranes (that's why it is used for membrane saturation for WB, for instance).
Dear Dominique Liger
You are totally right but the reason why I am working with this material is to provide comparable data with other literature. Also, this is a cheap common available material with a very cheap method for detection (UV-Visible Spectroscopy).
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. I greatly appreciate it.
Good luck.
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