Mixed Matrix Membranes for pervaporation study from Crosslinked Poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) Composited with Zeolite NaY

Abstract: Poly(vinyl alcohol) membranes were developed by physico-chemical cross linking method. The membranes were crosslinked with Glutaraldehyde and filled with NaY zeolite to bring both physical and chemical change among the membrane. The physico-chemical properties of the resulting membranes were studied by Fourier transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. The mechanical properties of the membranes were studied using universal tensile machine (UTM). The prepared membranes were subjected for pervaporation (PV) study of separation of water-isopropanol mixtures in the temperature range of 30-50 °C. The experimental results demonstrated that the developed membranes containing 15 mass% of crosslinking agent showed the highest separation selectivity of 3,442 with a flux of 3.71 x 10-2 kg/m2h at 30 C for 10 mass% of water in the feed.

Keywords: poly(vinyl alcohol), Glutaraldehyde, NaY-zeolite, Pervaporation, Selectivity, Activation energy.