EFFECT OF MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE ADDITIVE ON PERFORMANCE OF DIALYSIS MEMBRANE

A novel dialysis membrane with monosodium glutamate (MSG) as an additivehas been fabricated and its performance evaluated in terms of urea clearance.Nine formulations of casting solutions had been designed with 20% celluloseacetate, and different ratio of formic acid/MSG. The result shows that MSGbased membrane with the 6 wt% of MSG, achieved the best urea clearance,53.2%. SEM images illustrated that the increment of MSG in casting solutiontends to promote macrovoids formation and finally transits to finger likestructure. However, when the amount of MSG is further increased beyond6 wt%, the urea clearance reduced and the macrovoids structure disappeared.Thus, enlarged finger like structure favors the dialysis process.