Pervaporation separation of MTBE-methanol mixtures using cross-linked PVA membranes

• Published in: Journal of applied polymer science Vol. 75; no. 14; pp. 1699 - 1707
• Main Authors: Rhim, Ji-Won, Kim, Youn-Kook
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.04.2000; Wiley
• Subjects: Applied sciences; cross-linking; Exact sciences and technology; Exchange resins and membranes; Forms of application and semi-finished materials; MTBE-methanol; pervaporation; poly(vinyl alcohol); Polymer industry, paints, wood; sulfosuccinic acid; Technology of polymers; Acrylic acid copolymer; Ether; Property composition relationship; Vinyl alcohol copolymer; Experimental study; Property processing relationship; Crosslinked copolymer; Polyvinylalcohol; Crosslinked polymer; Selective permeability; Membrane; Methanol; Pervaporation
• ISSN: 0021-8995; 1097-4628
• DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-4628(20000401)75:14<1699::AID-APP3>3.0.CO;2-O

Poly(vinyl alcohol)(PVA)/poly(acrylic acid)(PAA) and PVA/sulfosuccinic acid (SSA) membrane performances have been studied for the pervaporation separation of methyl tert‐butyl ether (MTBE)/methanol (MeOH) mixtures with varying operating temperatures, amount of cross‐linking agents, and feed compositions. Typically, the separation factor, about 4000, and the permeation rate, 10.1 g/m2/h, were obtained with PVA/PAA = 85/15 membrane for MTBE/MeOH = 80/20 mixtures at 50°C. For PVA/PAA membranes, it could be considered that the flux is affected by the structural changes of the membranes due to the cross‐linking and the free carboxylic acid group also took an important role in the separation characteristics through the hydrogen bonding with PVA and the feed components leading to the increase of flux. The latter membrane of the 5% SSA membrane shows the highest separation factor of 2095 with the flux of 12.79 g/m2/h for MTBE/MeOH = 80/20 mixtures at 30°C. Besides the swelling measurements were carried out for pure MTBE and MeOH, and MTBE/MeOH = 90/10, 80/20 mixtures using PVA/SSA membranes with varying SSA compositions. It has been recognized that there are two factors, the membrane network and the hydrogen bonding in the swelling measurements of PVA/SSA membranes. These two factors act interdependently on the membrane swelling. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 75: 1699–1707, 2000