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Pervaporation of n‐ butanol aqueous solution through ZSM‐5‐PEBA composite membranes
Author(s) -
Tan Huifen,
Wu Yanhui,
Li Tongming
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.38704
Subject(s) - pervaporation , membrane , zeolite , chemical engineering , permeation , butanol , aqueous solution , materials science , adsorption , composite number , polymer chemistry , chemistry , chromatography , organic chemistry , composite material , catalysis , ethanol , biochemistry , engineering
Composite membranes were prepared by incorporating ZSM‐5 zeolite into poly(ether‐block‐amide) (PEBA) membranes. These composite membranes were characterized by TGA, XRD, and SEM. The results showed that the zeolite could distribute well in the polymer matrix. And when the zeolite content reached 10%, the agglomeration of zeolite in the membranes was found. The composite membranes were used to the pervaporative separation of n ‐butanol aqueous solution. The effect of zeolite content on pervaporation performance was investigated. With the contribution of preferential adsorption and diffusion of n ‐butanol in the polymer matrix and zeolite channel, the 5% ZSM‐5‐PEBA membrane showed enhanced selectivity and flux. The effects of liquid temperature and concentration on separation performance were also investigated. All the composite membranes demonstrated increasing separation factor and permeation flux with increasing temperature and concentration. Incorporation of ZSM‐5 could decrease the activation energy of n ‐butanol flux of the composite membrane. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013