Effect of ionic liquid on formation of copolyimide ultrafiltration membranes with improved rejection of La.

Ultrafiltration (UF) as a widely used industrial separation method with optimal selection of membrane materials can be applied to extract rare earth metals from dilute solutions formed during the processing of electronic waste by hydrometallurgical methods. In the present work, promising UF copolyimide membranes were prepared using [hmim][TCB] ionic liquid (IL) co-solvent which can be considered as an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional solvents. The membranes were characterized by ATR-FTIR, TGA, SEM and quantum chemical calculations.