para-Toluene sulfonic acid treated clay loaded sodium alginate membranes for enhanced pervaporative dehydration of isopropanol

The para-toluene sulfonic acid (p-TSA) treated clay (5, 10 and 15 wt.% loadings) particles were inserted into sodium alginate (NaAlg) matrix to derive the composite membranes that showed enhanced pervaporation performance for isopropanol separation. The 10 wt.% modified clay-loaded NaAlg membranes showed the highest selectivity of 5781 with a permeance of 3423 GPU for 10 wt.% water containing isopropanol feed mixture at 30 degrees C, showing a 140% higher selectivity compared to pristine clay-loaded NaAlg composite membrane. This effect is ascribed to an enhanced surface area and hydrophilicity after p-TSA treatment of clay, as verified by BET and TGA studies. The membranes were characterized by a variety of physico-chemical techniques and their pervaporation performance was assessed in terms of selectivity, permeance, with extent of variations in filler loading, temperature and feed water composition. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.