Date of Graduation

5-2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Biomedical Engineering

Advisor/Mentor

Hestekin, Jamie

Abstract

The ninth leading cause of death in the United States is kidney disease, and hemodialysis is the process most commonly prescribed for treatment. It utilizes a selectively permeable membrane filter to remove toxins such as urea from the blood and retain necessary protein levels. However, traditional filters, such as cellulose triacetate, used during dialysis can be inefficient in terms of separation performance and reduction of fouling. Recent exploration of nanoparticles has resulted in the creation of Oxone Mediated TEMPO-Oxidized Nano Cellulose which has properties that are believed to increase hydrophilicity, increase tensile capacity, decrease membrane resistance and lower fouling, making it an ideal filter for dialysis. This study focuses on the implementation of two derivatives of these nanoparticles and how they affect the characterization of the membranes. Ultrafiltration and dialysis were performed using bovine serum albumin (BSA), lysozyme, and urea to analyze various properties of each membrane. These properties included flux, sieving coefficient, pore size, KoA, urea clearance, mass transfer coefficient, and theoretical treatment time. The first membrane, Form I, showed significant improvement in every property tested. The second membrane, Form II, showed slight improvement in each property, but it was very similar to the control, leading to the belief that it would not be much better than the traditional cellulose triacetate filters. The third membrane, 50/50, was created from a mixture of the previous two, and it showed significant improvement similar to Form I but not quite as distinct. The Form I membrane showed the most significant improvement overall and was determined to be the best option for an improved dialysis filter that can increase flux and urea clearance while preventing fouling.

Keywords

hemodialysis, ultrafiltration, nanocellulose, membrane filter

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