Recovery of furfural by pervaporation technology using the ceramic tubular supported graphene-polydimethylsiloxane nanocomposite membranes

Herein, a novel ceramic tubular supported graphene-polydimethylsiloxane nanocomposite (CT/Gr-PDMS) membranes were fabricated via dip-coating method with various graphene contents (0-0.5 wt%) using tetraethylorthosilicate as the crosslinking agent. The characterizations of graphene-polydimethylsiloxane nanocomposite (Gr-PDMS) were analyzed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The CT/Gr-PDMS membranes were used to separate the furfuralwater mixture via pervaporation (PV) technology. The effects of operating conditions, such as feed concentration, feed temperature, and operation time on the PV performance of CT/0.2Gr-PDMS membrane, which were investigated via a one-factor-at-a-time approach. The PV performance of CT/0.2Gr-PDMS membrane revealed permeate flux (J) of 0.63 kg/m2h, separation factor (alpha) of 85.65, and PV separation index (PSI) of 53.7 kg/m2h in the appropriate operating condition as feed concentration of 2 wt% at 50 degrees C for 5 h. Moreover, this work has shown the promising potential of the CT/0.2Gr-PDMS membrane in providing PV technology with a high furfural separation performance.

Automated summary

In this study, a novel ceramic tubular supported graphene-polydimethylsiloxane nanocomposite (CT/Gr-PDMS) membrane was fabricated via dip-coating method and characterized using various analysis techniques. The membrane was used for the separation of furfural-water mixture using pervaporation technology. The study investigated the effects of operating conditions on the membrane's performance and obtained the PV performance parameters under suitable operating conditions.