The global water treatment systems market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 8.1% from 2024 to 2030. The market growth is driven by an increasing need to reduce contamination and a rising demand for virus-free products and it seeking for technical solutions displaying an optimal efficiency/cost ratio. In this context PVC is a polymer of interest for membrane processing since it displays high chemical and mechanical resistance as well as easy processing for a relatively low cost. However its hydrophobic behavior render ultrafiltration PVC membranes subject to clogging and favours active compounds leaching in polymer inclusion membranes. MeDAm project aims at proving that using as additives new PVC copolymers synthesized in the laboratory can help increasing at low cost PVC hydrophilicity and therefore increase membranes durability.
Copolymers synthesis, ultrafiltration membranes processing and physicochemical characterization will be performed at LCMT (in Caen) under the supervision of Prof Loïc Le Pluart and Dr Cyprien Lemouchi. Mobility will be required since polymer inclusion membranes processing and membranes permeability characterization will be performed at PBS (in Rouen) in collaboration with Dr Kateryna Fatyeyeva.