New chitosan/Konjac glucomannan blending membrane for application in pervaporation dehydration of caprolactam solution

Chitosan/Konjac glucomannan blending membranes were investigated to propose an improved caprolactam pervaporation (PV) dehydration process. The composite membranes were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry measurements to assess the intermolecular interactions of membranes. The effects of different temperature, CPL concentration in feed and KGM proportion in the membranes on the pervaporation performance were investigated. Data showed that KGM/CS blending membranes displayed good swelling and pervaporation performance, and the blending membrane M-1 had superior separation factor exceed 3000 at every temperature for 70 wt.% caprolactam. The results revealed that the separation performances of KGM/CS blending membranes were strongly related to their reaction degree, intrinsic structure and operating parameters. Crown Copyright (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of The Korean Society of industrial and Engineering Chemistry. All rights reserved.