Performance optimization of polysulfone ultrafiltration membranes for riboflavin separation using design experiments

Polysulfone membranes containing different concentrations of polyethylene glycol (M.Wt: 600 Da) as additive was prepared using N,N-dimethyl formamide as solvent. The parameters chosen for the study of separation of vitamin B2 were concentrations of additive and feed and solvent evaporation time. Box-Behnken design methods and analysis of variance have been applied to the experimental separation of vitamin B2 by polysulfone membranes. Box-Behnken design with three levels of additive concentration (2.5, 6.25 and 10 wt%), feed concentration (0.002, 0.005 and 0.008%) and solvent evaporation time (10, 20 and 30 s) is used for the identification of significant effects and interaction for the batch studied. Second order polynomial regression model which was used for analysis of the experiment made significant effect. The experimental values are in good correlation with predicted values, and the correlation coefficient was found to be 0.9194.