Strategies to overcome the limitations of cross-linked hydrophilic PVA membranes; carboxy methyl cellulose blending for epichlorohydrin-isopropanol-water pervaporation dehydration

Abstract

Sodium carboxyl methyl cellulous (NaCMC)/Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) coated Alumina hollow fiber (AHF) membrane was developed and applied to dehydration of ECH-IPA-water ternary feed mixture. CMC40 membrane, including 40 wt% of NaCMC showed the highest flux of 0.416 kg/m2h and a separation factor of 898 due to optimized packing density between PVA and the NaCMC polymer chain and relatively higher hydrophilic nature for PV separation to ECH-IPA-water ternary feed. After that, CMC40-coated AHF membrane was prepared according to the number of CMC40 coating and baking temperature. With an increase in baking temperature to 170 °C, the separation factor was significantly improved, while the flux decreased slightly. Moreover, NaCMC40-AHF showed robust properties with stable performance in the 50-h long-term PV test.