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A zeolite/polymer membrane for separation of ethanol-water azeotrope
Abstract
A novel membrane effective in the separation of ethanol-water mixtures by pervaporation was made by combining zeolite NaA and poly(vinyl chloride) modified by 2-(2′-butoxyethoxy)ethyl thiolate. Under ambient conditions, a separation factor (α
) of 29 and pervaporability (P
) of 4 × 10−4 g m−1 h−1 were obtained for the azeotropic mixture whereas, in the absence of zeolite, the respective values were 7 and 7 × 10−5. A mechanism was proposed relating the preferential water transport at ≈︁ 50% zeolite content to an interfacial “phase” between the zeolite and the modified polymer.
