Recovery of pyridine from aqueous solution by membrane pervaporation

Three different membranes, based on poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS), cation-exchange material and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) respectively, were tudied for the separation of pyridine-water mixtures by pervaporation. The PDMS membrane was preferentially permeable to pyridine and the other two were selective towards water. Three membranes showed different permeation performance, allowing the application of the technique to the separation of feeds of different composition. The temperature profile of the permeability suggests that it is possible to carry out the operation at an elevated temperature in order to achieve high productivity. A combination of the three types of membranes was designed for the production of anhydrous pyridine from dilute pyridine aqueous solution by pervaporation.