ArticleScientific reports2026
Engineering PVC/TPU hybrid membranes for high-efficiency pharmaceutical wastewater treatment using MBR technology.
Article in Scientific reports, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Pharmaceutical industries discharge complex wastewaters rich in organic pollutants and microorganisms to the environment, which necessitate the engineering of high-performance and antibiofouling ultrafiltration (UF) membranes for long-term membrane bioreactor (MBR) operations. Nevertheless, the intrinsic hydrophobicity of conventional polyvinylchloride (PVC) membranes restricts their practical usage. In this study, a series of novel blended PVC/thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) ultrafiltration membranes were fabricated via the non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) technique, aiming at treating actual pharmaceutical wastewater by an MBR system. Spectroscopic analyses (FTIR, XRD, DSC, and Raman) were conducted to confirm the molecular interactions and compatibility between PVC and TPU, while EDX and elemental mapping verified the existence of TPU-related elements and their homogeneous distribution. The inherent hydrophobicity of PVC was effectively overcome through TPU incorporation, resulting in a reduced contact angle from 84.9° to 69.4°. The incorporation of TPU significantly altered membrane morphology, increasing the porosity to 83.6% and exhibiting a nearly threefold enhancement in pure water flux (PWF), rising from 43.3 to 173.1 LMH, accompanied by enhanced equilibrium water content of 80.4%. During MBR operation, 96.7% COD removal, 41% reduction in irreversible fouling ratio (IFR), and a 60.7% flux recovery ratio (FRR) were achieved. The addition of TPU increased elongation up to 96.2%, abrasion resistance by 10%, and antibacterial properties by > 97%. Overall, the developed PVC/TPU blended UF membrane exhibits great potential for stable and efficient application in MBR systems for pharmaceutical wastewater treatment.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.