Pervaporative dehydration of ethanol/water mixture through hybrid alginate membranes with ferroferic oxide nanoparticles

Composite alginate membranes filled with various amount of iron ferroferric oxides (Fe3O4) and cross-linked by four different agents, i.e. calcium chloride (AlgCa), phosphoric(V) acid (AlgP), glutaraldehyde (AlgGA) and citric acid (AlgC) were prepared. Alteration of the separation performance related to the membrane's composition was examined by the pervaporative dehydration process of water/ethanol mixture. The observed influence of the nature of chosen crosslinking agent and the contents of Fe3O4 on the transport parameters was discussed in detail. Among all the tested membranes, the alginate membrane loaded with 15 wt% of magnetite and cross linked with phosphoric(V) acid (AlgP), showed the highest PSI of 33.86 kg.m(-2).h(-1).mu m(-1).