Silicalite-Filled Polyether-block-amides Membranes for Recovering Ethanol from Aqueous Solution by Pervaporation

Pervaporation (PV) performances of silicalite-filled polyether-block-amide (PEBA) membranes for separation of ethanol/water mixtures have been studied. The effects of silicalite content, ethanol concentration in feed, and feed temperature on the PV performances of the membranes have been investigated. it is found that addition of silicalite can improve PV performances of PEBA membranes. When the silicalite content is 2.0 wt %, both permeation flux and separation factor reach the maximum values, which are 833 g/m(2)h and 3.6, respectively With increasing of ethanol in the feed and feed temperature, both separation factor and total flux increased. The higher permeation activation energy of ethanol (E-ethanol = 21.62 kJ/mol) compared to that of water (E-water = 18.33 kJ/mol) for the 2.0 wt% silicalite-filled PEBA membrane accounts for the increase of the separation factor with feed temperature.