Arjumand A. Kittur

Pervaporation separation of water–isopropanol mixtures using ZSM‐5 zeolite incorporated poly(vinyl alcohol) membranes

A solution technique was employed to prepare ZSM-5 zeolite incorporated poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) membranes for the pervaporation separation of water-isopropanol mixtures. The membranes were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimeter. Glass transition temperatures of the membranes varied from 102 to 110°C, with increasing zeolite content of the membrane. The effect of zeolite loading and feed composition on pervaporation performance of the membranes was analyzed. The membrane containing 6 mass% of zeolite gave the highest separation selectivity of 216 for 10 mass % of water containing feed mixture at 30°C. Increase in water selectivity of the membrane was explained as due to a reduction in free volume by increasing zeolite content of the membrane. Separation selectivity and permeation flux data are dependent on water composition of the feed mixture, but are comparatively less dependent on temperature. The hindrance of water permeation at higher composition of water in the feed mixture was explained as due to the formation of clusters of water molecules. The overall activation energy and preexponential factors were calculated using Arrhenius equation. Pervaporation data have also been explained on the basis of thermodynamic parameters calculated by using Arrhenius equation as well as relationship proposed by Ping et al.

Preparation of zeolite-incorporated PDMS membranes for pervaporation separation of isopropanol-water mixtures

ZSM-5 zeolite-incorporated poly(dimethyl siloxane) membranes were prepared and molecular dispersion of zeolite in the membrane matrix was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. After studying the behavior of membrane swelling at 30°C, the membranes were subjected to pervaporation separation of isopropanol-water mixtures at 30, 40 and 50°C. The effects of zeolite loading and feed composition on the pervaporation performances of the membranes were analyzed. Both permeation flux and selectivity increased simultaneously with increasing zeolite content in the membrane matrix. This was discussed on the basis of the enhancement of hydrophobicity, selective adsorption, and the establishment of molecular sieving action. The membrane containing the highest zeolite loading (30 mass%) exhibits the highest separation selectivity of 80.84 and flux of 6.78 × 10−2kg/m2h at 30°C for 5 mass% of isopropanol in the feed. From the temperature dependency of diffusion and permeation values, the Arrhenius activation parameters were estimated. A pure membrane (M) exhibits higher Ep and ED values compared to zeolite-incorporated membranes, signifying that permeation and diffusion require more energy for transport through a pure membrane, owing to its dense nature. Obviously, zeolite-incorporated membranes require less energy due to their molecular sieving action attributed to the presence of straight and sinusoidal channels in the framework of zeolite. All the zeolite-incorporated membranes exhibit positive ΔHs values, suggesting that the heat of sorption is dominated by the Henrys mode of sorption.