Chitosan/N-methylol nylon 6 blend membranes for the pervaporation separation of ethanol–water mixtures

Blend membranes of chitosan and N-methylol nylon 6 were prepared by solution blending. Their pervaporation performances for the separation of ethanol–water mixtures were investigated in terms of acid (H₂SO₄) post-treatment, feed concentration, blend ratio and temperature. The pervaporation performance of the blend membranes was significantly improved by ionizing with H₂SO₄. The blend ratio of chitosan and N-methylol nylon 6 plays a different role at feed solutions of low and high water content. At a feed solution having low water content, an increase in chitosan content caused a decrease in permeability and an increase in separation factor. At a feed solution having high water content, the permeability increases with an increase in chitosan content, while the separation factor shows a maximum value around 60 wt% chitosan. It is proposed that extra permeation channels generated from the phase separation boundary between ionized chitosan and N-methylol nylon 6 account for the abnormal temperature dependence of pervaporation performance of the blend membranes.     

Preparation and separation characteristics of polyelectrolyte complex membranes containing sulfated carboxymethyl cellulose for water–ethanol mixtures at low pH

Novel polyelectrolyte complexes based on sulfated carboxymethyl cellulose and chitosan were prepared, containing strongly charged (sulfate (OSO₃)) and weakly charged (carboxylate (COO^?)) groups (SPECs). SPEC homogeneous membranes (SPECMs) for the pervaporation dehydration of ethanol–water mixtures were investigated. The chemical structures and compositions of SPECMs were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectra. The swelling behavior and separation performance of SPECMs in low pH feed were evaluated. It was found that the SPECMs containing OSO₃ groups were resistant to acidic feeds and showed very good separation performance even in low pH feed. For instance, the water content in permeate for SPECM-0.35 reached as high as 95.8 wt%, which was much higher than the 60 wt% for SPECM-0 in the dehydration of water–ethanol mixtures with pH 2. The result was attributed to the interplay between the stable complexation formed by OSO₃ groups and the improved ionization degree of COO^? groups in SPECMs. Moreover, the SPECMs maintained their operation stability against acidic feeds. The SPECMs could find considerable potential application in the pervaporation dehydration of acidic feeds, especially for enhancing the conversion of ester condensation.     

Polyamide-imide/polyetherimide dual-layer hollow fiber membranes for pervaporation dehydration of C1–C4 alcohols

To circumvent the common swelling and deteriorated performance of integral asymmetric hollow fiber membranes for pervaporation dehydration, we have developed novel polyamide-imide (PAI)/polyetherimide (PEI) hollow fiber membranes with synergized performance with the aid of dual-layer spinning technology. Dehydration of C1–C4 alcohols has been conducted and the orders of their fluxes and permeances have been analyzed. The hollow fibers spun at 2 cm air gap and annealed at 75 °C exhibit the highest pervaporation performance: separation factors for t-butanol/water and iso-butanol/water binary systems are greater than 50,000 with flux more than 700 g/m² h. A comparison with literature data shows that the newly developed membranes outperform most other polymeric membranes for the dehydration of IPA and butanols. The dual-layer hollow fiber membranes also exhibit good long-term stability up to 200 h. The superior performance can be attributed to (1) the balanced properties of PAI as the selective layer for dehydration pervaporation; (2) the low water uptake and less swelling characteristic of the PEI supporting layer; and (3) the desirable membrane morphology consisting of a fully porous inner layer, a porous interface, and an ultrathin dense-selective outer skin.     

Pervaporation dehydration of ethanol–water mixtures with chitosan/hydroxyethylcellulose (CS/HEC) composite membranes: I. Effect of operating conditions

Composite hydrophilic pervaporation membranes were prepared from chitosan blended with hydroxyethylcellulose using cellulose acetate as a porous support. The membranes were tested for dehydration performance of ethanol–water mixtures of ethanol concentrations 70–95 wt.% in the laminar flow region, at temperatures 50–70°C and at permeate pressures of 3–30 mmHg. The composite membrane showed an improved dehydration performance compared with dense CS/HEC membrane developed earlier. The effects of operating conditions also revealed that pervaporation of low water content feed carried out at high feed flow rate and at low temperature and permeate pressure was an advantage.     

Bubble points of hydrogen chloride–water–isopropanol and hydrogen chloride–water–isopropanol–benzene systems and liquid–liquid equilibria of hydrogen chloride–water–benzene and hydrogen chloride–water–isopropanol–benzene systems

Bubble points of the HCl–water–isopropanol and the HCl–water–isopropanol–benzene systems and liquid–liquid equilibria (LLE) of the HCl–water–benzene and the HCl–water– isopropanol–benzene systems were measured at 25–85°C and 30–70°C, respectively. The electrolyte nonrandom two-liquid model proposed by Chen et al. [C.-C. Chen, H.I. Britt, J.F. Boston, L.B. Evans, AIChE J. 28 (1982) 588–596] can satisfactorily correlate bubble points and liquid–liquid equilibria of the present mixed-solvent electrolyte systems over the entire range of temperature and concentrations using only binary adjustable parameters.     

Catalytic dehydration of isopropanol on neodymium-Y and X-zeolites and the effect of γ-irradiation

Four different samples of NdX, NdY, NdNH₄X and NdNH₄Y-zeolites were prepared by ionexchange methods. DTA and XRD analyses have been carried out for the samples. The thermally activated zeolites were irradiated by 1.5 and 10.0 Mrad -rays. The catalytic activities of these samples were tested in dehydration of isopropanol. The results of DTA indicated that all samples showed endothermic peaks at about 215 °C related to the release of physically adsorbed water and exothermic peaks at 850–950 °C indicating the collapses of the zeolite. The X-ray analysis revealed that the exchange of sodium by neodymium or ammonium followed by neodymium ions did not change the crystal structure but some decrease in the crystallinity was observed. The catalytic activities of these zeolites were measured in dehydration of isopropanol as a function of temperature. It was found that the activity of the prepared Nd-zeolites depends on the crystallinity of zeolites and on the condensation products formed on catalyst surface. However, the irradiated samples exhibited higher catalytic activities in isopropanol conversion than the unirradiated ones. The observed higher activity for irradiated samples was attributed to the increase of the number of acidic centers responsible for dehydration of alcohols. These centers were formed as a result of the formation of tricoordinate aluminium atoms in -irradiated zeolites.     

Solvatochromic effect and kinetics of methyl violet reduction with potassium iodide in water–isopropanol mixtures

The solvent influence on the reduction kinetics of methyl violet with iodide in binary mixture of aqueous isopropanol was investigated spectrophotometrically. The absorption spectra of methyl violet were recorded in water, aqueous isopropanol and absolute isopropanol. In these solvents λ_max was in the range from 580.5 to 582.5 nm. The CNIBS/R-K model was used to calculate the solvatochromic parameters in a binary mixture; polynomial equation was also applied to describe the experimental data. The transition energies (E_T) were calculated. They show bathochromic shift with the decrease in the polarity of the solvent. The temperature was varied from 298–318 K, while the pH of the reaction was maintained at 4.99 and 6.00. The reduction reaction was found to be first order by potassium iodide and zero order by methyl violet. The thermodynamic parameters were also evaluated to support the kinetic data.     

Micellisation thermodynamics of sodium lauroylsarcosinate in water–alcohol binary mixtures

Aggregation of sodium lauroylsarcosinate (SLS) in aqueous solutions of methanol, ethanol, propanol and ethylene glycol at 288–313 K has been determined from conductivity measurement in the range 0–20% v/v of additives. The precise values of the critical micelle concentration (CMC) and the degree of counter-ion dissociation of micelles were obtained at each temperature by fitting the specific conductivity-surfactant concentration curve to the integrated form of the Boltzmann-sigmoid equation. The CMC was found to increase with increase in additive concentrations in the case of methanol and ethylene glycol, while it decreases with increase in ethanol and propanol concentration. The equilibrium model of micelle formation was applied to obtain the thermodynamic parameters of micellisation. The Gibbs free energies were observed to vary only slightly with temperature and additive concentrations. Enthalpy–entropy compensation was observed for all the systems with a constant compensation temperature of ≈300 K and negative compensation enthalpy.     

Pervaporation dehydration of alcohol–water mixtures: Optimization for permeate flux and selectivity by central composite rotatable design

A central composite rotatable design (CCRD) of response surface methodology was used to analyze pervaporation performance of homogeneous poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) membranes. A regression model was developed for the pervaporation flux and selectivity as a function of the operating conditions: temperature, concentration and flow-rate. Dehydration experiments were performed on two different alcohol–water systems: isopropanol–water (IPA–water) and ethanol–water (Et–water) mixtures around their azeotropic concentrations. Based on preliminary experiments and CCRD design, the ranges of values of the operating conditions were selected: temperature 33–67 °C, feed flow-rate 46–114 L/h, and concentration 83–92 wt% for IPA and 93–98 wt% for Et in feed mixtures. A total of 20 pervaporation experiments were conducted for each alcohol–water system. Judged by the lack-of-fit criterion, the analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed the regression model to be adequate. From the regression analysis, the flux and selectivity were expressed with quadratic equations of temperature, feed concentration and flow-rate. The predicted flux and selectivity from the regression model were presented in 3D surface plots. For both alcohol–water systems, quadratic terms of temperature and feed alcohol concentration showed significant (p < 0.0001) influence on the flux and selectivity. A strong interaction effect of temperature and concentration was observed on the selectivity for the Et–water system. However, the interaction of flow-rate with temperature or concentration was found to be less significant. In order to optimize the pervaporation flux and selectivity of azeotropic alcohol–water mixtures, the desirability function approach was applied to analyze the regression model equations by commercial software. For the azeotropic IPA–water mixture (87.5 wt% IPA), the optimized dehydration variables were found to be 50.5 °C and 93.7 L/h for temperature and flow-rate, respectively. For the azeotropic Et–water mixture (95.5 wt% Et), the optimized temperature and flow-rate were found to be 57 °C and 89.2 L/h, respectively. Compared with experiments performed at optimized temperature and flow-rate, the predicted flux and selectivity of the azeotropic mixtures showed errors to be within 3–6%.     

Stability and performance of porous silica–zirconia composite membranes for pervaporation of aqueous organic solutions

Porous silica–zirconia membranes were fabricated by the sol–gel techniques to study their stability against water and the pervaporation performance of aqueous solutions of organic solvents. Zirconia (10–70 mol%) was added to silica to obtain silica–zirconia composite membranes by firing at 400–500 °C for pervaporation tests with organic solvent/water mixtures, such as iso-propyl alcohol (IPA)/water and tetrahydrofuran (THF)/water mixtures at their normal boiling points.The membrane coatings have been done effectively by the hot-coating methods proposed previously. Boiling water treatments introduced in the coating processes have made the membranes quite stable even in the high water concentration region of aqueous organic solutions at their normal boiling points. Zirconia contents larger than about 40 mol% have made the silica–zirconia membranes quite stable. The membranes of zirconia contents less than about 30 mol% were found not stable in a dilute aqueous solution of IPA. The membranes fabricated by the conventional dip-coating methods with slow drying were not stable against water because of the probable segregation of silica and/or silica-rich phases during drying.The membranes fired at lower temperature (400 °C) gave a higher water flux of around 500 mol m⁻² h⁻¹ (9 kg m⁻² h⁻¹) with a separation factor larger than 1500 at 10 wt.% of water in the boiling feed of IPA/water mixture, for example.     

Surface tension isotherms of the dioxane–acetone–water and glycerol–ethanol–water ternary systems

The results of the experimental and theoretical studies of the concentration dependence of surface tension of aqueous solutions of the 1,4-dioxane–acetone–water and glycerol–ethanol–water ternary systems were given. The studies were performed by the hanging-drop method on a DSA100 tensiometer. The maximum error of surface tension was 1%. The theoretical models for calculating the surface tension of the ternary systems of organic solutions were analyzed.     

Composite poly(vinyl alcohol)–poly(sulfone) membranes crosslinked by trimesoyl chloride: Characterization and dehydration of ethylene glycol–water mixtures

Composite membranes prepared from poly(vinyl alcohol) and poly(sulfone) were crosslinked with trimesoyl chloride (TMC) solutions. The degree of crosslinking, crystallinity, surface roughness and hydrophobicity of the crosslinked PVA–PSf membranes were determined from attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and contact angle measurements, respectively. Results showed a consistent trend of changes in the physicochemical properties: the degree of crosslinking, crystallinity, surface roughness, hydrophobicity and swelling degree all decrease with increasing crosslinking agent (TMC) concentration and reaction time. The crosslinked membrane performance was assessed with pervaporation dehydration of ethylene glycol solutions at a range of concentrations (30–90 wt% EG) in the feed mixtures. The total flux of permeation was found to decrease, while the selectivity to increase, with increasing TMC concentration and reaction time. The decrease in flux was most prominent at low EG concentrations in the feed mixtures. In addition, the temperature effect on the pervaporation dehydration was investigated in relation to solution–diffusion mechanisms.     

Transport of binary water–ethanol mixtures through a multilayer hydrophobic zeolite membrane

Transport of water–ethanol mixtures through a hydrophobic tubular ZSM-5 (Si/Al = 300) zeolite membrane during pervaporation was studied experimentally and theoretically. The zeolite membrane was deposited on a support made of pure titania coated with three intermediate ceramic titania layers. The influence of feed concentration, feed temperature and permeate pressure on permeate fluxes and permeate concentrations was investigated in a wide range. Dusty gas model parameters of the support and all ceramic intermediate layers were calculated on the basis of gas permeation data. Mass transfer resistances and pressure drops in the different membrane layers during pervaporation were calculated for several process conditions. In particular the influence of the undesired but unavoidable pressure drop in the support and the intermediate layers on the effective driving force for pervaporation was evaluated and found to be relevant for predicting the overall process performance. The membrane prepared was found to be suitable for the recovery of highly concentrated ethanol from feed mixtures of relatively low ethanol concentrations at relatively low feed temperatures.     

Preparation and pervaporation performance of high-quality silicalite-1 membranes

High-performance silicalite-1 membranes were successfully synthesized on novel porous silica tubes by two-step in-situ hydrothermal synthesis.The flux and separation factor towards ethanol/water mix- ture at 60℃were 0.56 kg/(m2·h)and 84,respectively.The as-synthesized silicalite-1 membranes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy(SEM).The influence of different synthesis conditions on the separation performance of the silicalite-1 membranes was investigated.It was found that the average flux of silicalite-1 membranes was improved by about 26?ter filling the silica tubes with mixed solution containing glycerol and water.After calcinating at 400℃for 5 h repeatedly,membrane synthesized on silica tube still showed high pervaporation performance towards ethanol/water mixture even at a calcination rate of 4℃/min,which suggested that silica support was more suitable for pre- paring high-performance silicalite-1 membranes.     

An experimental study of three- and four-phase equilibria for isopropanol—water—carbon dioxide mixtures at elevated pressures

Compositions and molar volumes of the three phases in liquid—liquid—gas equilibrium are reported for ternary mixtures of isopropanol, water and CO₂ at elevated pressures and at temperatures of 50 and 60°C. Phase compositions and molar volumes were also obtained for three-phase, liquid—liquid—liquid equilibrium and four-phase, liquid—liquid—liquid—gas equilibrium at 40°C. Gas—liquid and liquid—liquid critical endpoints, which represent pressure bounds on the liquid—liquid—gas region at 60°C, were determined from observations of critical opalescence.The phase behavior exhibited by the isopropanol—water—CO₂ system is quite complex, particularly at conditions near the critical point of CO₂. These conditions are well within the range of operating conditions proposed for supercritical-fluid extraction of organic compounds from water using CO₂. Therefore, the existence of multiple coexisting phases can be an important factor in designing and operating such extraction processes.     

Study of the polythermal diagram water–sodium sulphate–piperidine

Two isothermal sections of the isobaric ternary system H₂O–Na₂SO₄–C₅H₁₀NH were determined by isoplethic thermal analysis at 293 and 323 K. The compositions of the aqueous and organic invariant liquids, respectively L1 and L2, as well as that of the critical point, were characterized for each isotherm. The temperature of the invariant reaction was obtained by controlled flow thermal analysis and the temperature of the demixing ending, by interpolation of the monovariant lines. All these informations allowed us to establish the isobaric polythermal diagram of the H₂O–Na₂SO₄–C₅H₁₀NH system, for the temperature range 293–323 K, as well as a qualitative representation of the monovariant curves. This system is then characterized by a wide miscibility gap, three crystallization domains, and four-three-phase invariant domains. The relevant exploitation of this diagram so permits us to deduce the demixing temperature leading to the optimal transfer of the organic compounds in the light phase and also the composition of the organic phase recovered after this first step of extraction.