Sharif Digital Repository

In this project, modification of reverse osmosis membrane was investigated in order to reduce the biofouling in treatment of brackish water. Furthermore, the technique which is used to attain the favorable results is graft polymerization to modify the membrane’s surface with grafting acrylic acid as hydrophilic monomer onto polyamide exploited as last layer in reverse osmosis membrane. This technique is a free radical grafting, andfree radicals which are needed for grafting are provided by the redox system potassium persulfate-sodium metabisulfite which was used as initiator. To figure out the best concentration of acrylic acid, initiator and process time in order to achieve a new membrane... 

This thesis focuses on the preparation and super-swelling behavior of four highly porous hydrogels: 1. Firstly, we have developed a collagen-based highly porous hydrogel by neutralizing the grafted poly(acrylamide-co-acrylic acid) after gel formation. Systematically, the certain variables of the graft copolymerization were optimized to achieve maximum swelling capacity. Morphology of the samples was examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and was shown the pores were induced into the hydrogel by water evaporation resulting from neutralization process. The absorbency under load (AUL) and centrifuge retention capacity (CRC) were measured. The synthesized hydrogel exhibited a... 

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death all over the world, even more common than cancers. The first reason of mortality in Iran according to statistics is the occlusion of coronary arteries. Unfortunately almost one third of patients doesn’t have enough blood vessels to be used in the bypass surgery and need artificial vessels. These artificial blood vessels with small diameters (less than 6 mm) will fail quickly. As a result there is an increasing demand for tissue engineered blood vessels which are capable of enduring high blood pressures. An artificial blood vessel should mimic both structure and mechanical properties of the real one. Blood vessels have layered structures,... 

Molybdenum is one of the important elements of the intermediary metal with atomic number 42, which is used in various industries, but among the important uses of this metal in the nuclear industry, we can mention the presence of this element in the production of yellow cake as an impurity and also as a precursor for the production of radiopharmaceuticals. It is one of the impurities that remain in all stages of yellow cake production along with uranium, and the high presence of this element causes the centrifuges to become unbalanced during the injection of "U" "F" _"6" gas, and on the other hand, technetium, the main ingredient in the production of radiopharmaceuticals, It comes from the... 

Coronary artery diseaseaffects millions of persons and isone of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Invasive techniques such as coronary artery bypassgrafting are used to alleviate the lesion of arterial occlusion.Unfortunately, restenosis or occlusion of the graftedconduit occurs over a time frame of months to years with a gradual reduction in patency, especially in vein grafts. Theevents leading to intimal hyperplasia (IH) formation involve numerous cellular and molecular components. Variouscellular elements of the vessel wall are involved as are leucocyte–endothelial interactions that trigger the coagulationcascade leading to localized thrombus formation. Subsequent... 

In this study, the response surface methodology (RSM) based on the central composite design (CCD) were used to prepare a polypropylene grafted maleic anhydride (PP-g-MA) microporous flat sheet membrane via thermally induced phase separation (TIPS) method. Mixture of dibutyl phthalate (DBP) and dioctyl phthalate (DOP) were used as diluent. The effect of the polymer composition and coagulation bath temperature on the morphology and performance of the fabricated microporous membranes in a bioreactor (MBR) were investigated. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine which variables and interactions between variables have a significant effect on our responses. The ANOVA revealed that the... 

In this study, surface modification of Thin-film composite (TFC) membranes was performed in order to enhancement of its performance and chlorine resistance. TFC membranes was prepared through the interfacial polymerization between m-phenylenediamine (MPD) and trimesoyl chloride (TMC) on the polysulphone support membrane and surface modification performed through redox initiated graft polymerization of acrylic amide followed by acrylic acid. The successful surface modification of TFC membranes was evident from attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), contact angle (θ), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM). Changes in... 

Today, the pollution of heavy metals in wastewater and surface waters, which is a global environmental problem, has increased with the expansion of various industrial activities. Heavy metals cause serious health problems due to their accumulation in human and animal tissues. Thorium, is a radioactive element with an atomic number of 90 that is widely used in the optics, aerospace, metallurgy and chemical industries, in the manufacture of high-strength alloys, in UV photocells, and especially in the nuclear industry. The primary sources of radioactive wastewater include nuclear power plants, nuclear energy industry research centers, medical institutions, industrial production, universities,... 

In this research, modification of polysolfune ultrafiltration membranes is investigated. The enhancement is done via grafting of the acrylic acid as a hydrophilic monomer on the membrane surface. This is a free radical grafting method in which free radicals are formed via redox reaction of ammonium persulfate and sodium metabisulfite as an initiator. Water contact angle, molecular weight cut-off, pure water flux and fouling experiments were used to figure out the optimum conditions for the membrane performance. In addition, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were utilized to determine morphological changes of the membrane surface. Furthermore, Fourier... 

In this study, modification of Polyvinylidene fluoride membrane in order to reduce membrane fouling in membrane bioreactors is investiged. To achieve this goal, chemical modification and grafting methods were used. Initially, by chemical modification, the reaction was made to make hydroxyl groups on the membrane surface. The hydroxyl functional groups were used as a site for connecting of subsequent monomers. Finally, the lysozyme enzyme was used as the main modifier to improve the hydrophilicity and antibacterial properties of the membrane surface. To evaluate the performance of the modified membrane in comparison with the pristine membrane, different tests, such as water contact angle... 

The human body normally has two functioning kidneys, while only one of them is sufficient to have a healthy life. However, for those patients having no functioning kidney, transplantation is the most effective treatment. Although deceased donors have been usually used as the main source for kidney donation in many countries, there are several cases focusing on living kidney donation to compensate for the shortage in supply and to reduce the patient waiting time for treatment. Because of this potential, many studies have been conducted to optimize the non-clinical issues of kidney transplant waiting lists. Notwithstanding employing the financial incentives for living kidney donation is...