Thierry Cohen

Preparation of perfluorinated ion exchange membranes and their application in acid recovery

Abstract The preirradiation grafting of crosslinked sulphonated styrene monomer (CSS) and a crosslinked aromatic monomer (ARM) onto ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) film was studied. The dependence of the grafting reaction on temperature, concentration of monomer, crosslinking agent, concentration of inhibitor and on the preirradiation dose was investigated. Interaction between monomer diffusibility and the viscosity of the monomer bath controls the grafting reaction. Other factors such as the mutual reactivity of monomer and crosslinking agent contribute to explaining the results of the grafting reaction. The properties of some membranes were also determined. The application of these membranes to acid recovery by dialysis, electrodialysis and electro-electrodialysis (EED) showed their excellent performance.