The presence of both copper ion (Cu (II)) from industry and humic acid (HA) in natural waters may generate Cu (II)–HA complex, which is a non-biodegradable and toxic organic pollutant in the water. Removal of such toxic substance is of great importance and environmental significance. Although membrane technology provides a solution for the removal via the filtration, fouling still presents a major challenge for the effective separation. In this study, polyurethanes endcapped with β-cyclodextrin and lactic acid were synthesized and used as additives to be blended with cellulose acetate membranes, which possessed enhanced hydrophilicity, permeability and antifouling property for the removal of Cu (II) and HA. As an example, the polyurethane endcapped with lactic acid (LPU-CA) membrane exhibited high pure water flux (PWF) of 648 L m⁻² h⁻¹, as well as high flux recovery ratios (FRRs) of 97.8% and 92% and low irreversible fouling rate (F_ir) of 2.2% and 7.8% for the ultrafiltration (UF) of HA and Cu (II)–HA complex, respectively, showing excellent anti-fouling performance. In addition, the Cu (II) and HA rejection was greatly enhanced by the HA enhanced complexation process. These results indicated that the polyurethanes modified cellulose acetate membrane provided enhanced separation with good antifouling property, which can be potentially used for the cleaning of the toxic metal-organic pollutants in wastewaters.

天然水中的工业铜离子（Cu（II））和腐殖酸（HA）的存在都可能生成Cu（II）-HA复合物，该复合物是水中不可生物降解的有毒有机污染物。去除这种有毒物质具有重要意义和环境意义。尽管膜技术提供了通过过滤去除的解决方案，但结垢仍然是有效分离的主要挑战。本研究合成了以β-环糊精和乳酸为封端的聚氨酯，并作为添加剂与醋酸纤维素膜共混，具有增强的亲水性，渗透性和防污性能，可去除Cu（II）和HA。例如，封有乳酸（LPU-CA）膜的聚氨酯表现出648 L m的高纯水通量（PWF）^-2  h ^-1，HA和Cu（II）的超滤（UF）的高通量回收率（FRR）为97.8％和92％，低不可逆结垢率（F _ir）为2.2％和7.8％ –HA复合物分别显示出优异的防污性能。另外，通过HA增强的络合过程极大地增强了Cu（II）和HA的排斥。这些结果表明，聚氨酯改性的乙酸纤维素膜提供了增强的分离和良好的防污性能，可潜在地用于清洁废水中的有毒金属有机污染物。