INSTITUTO POLITÉCNICO DE BRAGANÇA

ESCOLA SUPERIOR DE TECNOLOGIA E GESTÃO

LICENCIATURA EM ENGENHARIA QUÍMICA E BIOLÓGICA
FENÔMENOS DE TRANSFERÊNCIA II

Experimental study of a diffusion process of polydatin through a

cellulose membrane

Students: Laires Araujo

Mara Carvalhais
Melisa Porcel

Professor: Rolando Carlos Pereira Simões Dias

Bragança, November 2018

 SUMMARY

The overall purpose of the experimental work was to study the diffusive transport
of polyphenol polydatin (3,4',5-trihydroxystilbene-3-β-d-glucoside) through a cellulose
membrane (SnakeSkin ™ Dialysis Tubing, 3.5K MWCO, 35 mm) in order to determine
the concentration profile of the membrane outer face as a function of the time (hours).
The diffusive system was compounded by a tied membrane filled with 0.1 mM polydatin
solution immersed in methanol-water solution, and the data was evaluated by a
MATLAB© code using exponential fitting model. The system reached its equilibrium
when the concentration of the outer face corresponded to 0.008 mM.
 EXPERIMENTAL METODOLOGY AND RESULTS

As a previous assay, a solution of 0.1 mM of polydatin was performed using 50:50

methanol-water mixture as diluent. The solution showed a spectrophotometric reading of
1.9963 for that concentration.

The 0.1 mM solution was set into a membrane of regenerated cellulose (dry
thickness of 3.5K MWCO). Then the membrane was tied and placed into a 250 mL glass
flask filled with the same diluent (Figure 1).

(a) (b)

Figure 1: (a) Diffusion process of polydatin through cellulose membrane and (b) chemical structure of
polydatin.

The experiment overall took place over 15 days, in which samples were collected
couple times for concentration analysis by UV spectrophotometry. The optimum
wavelength for UV reading of the polydatin was set at 316nm. The results for each sample
reading are shown in Table 1 and Figure 1.

Table 1: Experimental data of polydatin absorbance at 316nm.

Time (h) Absorbance

0 0
10 0.003
72 0.1451
288 0.1424
360 0.1546

Experimental data were evaluated by modeling using a MATLAB© code adjusted

to an exponential curve fit model (Equation 1) to predict the behavior of the diffusion for
this case. As expected, the graph indicates the intense solute migration through the
membrane at the very beginning of the process, as observed that the slope is much steeper.
Later after, the concentration of the solute at the outer face is increased as far as it reaches
steady-state.

𝐴 = 𝑘1 − 𝑘2 𝑒 −𝑘3 𝑡 (1)

From absorbance-time data points, the Equation 1 was applied and values for
coefficients k1, k2 and k3 were defined for the diffusion process with 95% confidence
bound.

𝐴 = 0.1531 − 0.1674𝑒 −0.02655𝑡 (2)

(a) (b)
Figure 2: Graphic representation of the diffusion process (a) and its exponential curve fit model.

𝐶𝐴,0 = 𝛼 𝐴0 ≡ 𝐶𝐴,1 = 𝛼 𝐴1
𝐶𝐴,0 𝐴0
= 𝛼
𝐶𝐴,1 𝐴1
𝐶𝐴,0 𝐴0
=
𝐶𝐴,1 𝐴1

0.1 1.9963
=
𝐶𝐴,1 0.1546

𝐶𝐴,1 = 0.008 𝑚𝑀
 CONCLUSION

From data results, it is possible to confirm that the diffusion process occurs by
transient state, due the variation of concentration in matter of time. Also, the diffusion
coefficient and the size of the polydatin molecule are the two aspects that influence the
permeability of the membrane to the solute.
 REFERENCES

Drugbank, “Polydatin.” [Online]. Available: https://www.drugbank.ca/drugs/DB11263.

[Accessed: 18-Nov-2018].
ThermoFisher, “SnakeSkin™ Dialysis Tubing, 3.5K MWCO, 35 mm.” [Online].
Available: https://www.thermofisher.com/order/catalog/product/88244. [Accessed: 18-
Nov-2018].
F. P. Incropera and D. P. DeWitt, Fundamentals of heat and mass transfer, 4th ed.New
York: Wiley, 1996.
 ANNEX

Outputs – Modeling exponential curve fit.

fitresult =

General model:
fitresult(t) = k1 - k2*exp(-k3*t)
Coefficients (with 95% confidence bounds):
k1 = 0.1531 (0.08354, 0.2227)
k2 = 0.1674 (0.06084, 0.2739)
k3 = 0.02655 (-0.0319, 0.085)

gof =

sse: 0.0011
rsquare: 0.9581
dfe: 2
adjrsquare: 0.9163
rmse: 0.0232