The objective of this study is to develop the easy-to-clean and fouling resistant polylactic acid (PLA) ultrafiltration membranes made of stimuli-responsive materials. Here, N-isopropyl acrylamide (NIPAM) was polymerized on montmorillonite (MMT) to create a thermosensitive MPNI nanocomposite. FTIR, XRD, TGA, SEM, TEM and DLS results confirmed the successful polymerization of NIPAM on MMT. Thermosensitive ultrafiltration PLA membranes were fabricated by incorporating varying amounts of MPNI, ranging from 0.0 to 1.0 wt%. The modified membranes exhibited improved water uptake, porosity, mechanical strength, hydrophilicity, and pure water flux by incorporating MPNI. Furthermore, they demonstrated decreased hydrophilicity and water uptake in response to changes in water temperature. During humic acid (HA) filtration with a 10 ppm concentration, PLA-MPNI-0.75 membrane showed higher water flux (93 L. m2. h−1) and better HA rejection (75%) compared to neat PLA. Moreover, employing a thermosensitive cleaning method, particularly by-passing warm water (above the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of NIPAM through the membrane, resulted in improved in flux recovery ratio (FRR) for the PLA-MPNI membranes, while PLA was regenerated at around 40%.
