Gasoline desulfurization by a TiO2‐filled ethyl cellulose pervaporation membrane

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe TiO2 nanoparticles were incorporated into an ethyl cellulose (EC) matrix to improve the pervaporation (PV) performance of the membrane for gasoline desulfurization. The microstructures of different EC membranes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and X‐ray and transmission electron microscopy. The PV experiments showed that the hybrid membrane of EC/TiO2 demonstrated an improved permeation flux (J) of 7.58 kg m−2 h−1 and a sulfur enrichment factor (α) of 3.13 in comparison with the pure EC membrane, with a J of 3.73 kg m−2 h−1 and an α of 3.69. In addition, the effects of the operating conditions, including the operating temperature, layer thickness, crosslinking time, feed flow rate, and feed sulfur content level, on the PV performance of the EC/TiO2 membrane were investigated. Under a 100 mL/min feed flow rate and a 85 μg/g sulfur content, J of the 10 μm thick membrane increased to 7.58 kg m−2 h−1 with α of 3.13 compared to the pure EC membrane (3.73 kg m−2 h−1, 3.69) at 80 °C with 30 min of crosslinking time. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017: 134, 43409.