Anion exchange membranes from hot-pressed electrospun QPPO-SiO2 hybrid nanofibers for acid recovery

To improve the efficiency of acid recovery by diffusion dialysis, novel anion exchange membranes (AEMs) have been fabricated from quaternized poly(2,6-climethy1-1,4-phenylene oxide)/Silicon dioxide hybrid material (QPPO-SiO2) by electrospinning and post-treatment (solvent fumigation and hot-press). While being used in a simulated iron polishing waste solution containing 1 mol/L HCl, and 0.225 mol/L FeCl2, the membrane exhibits both higher acid permeability (U-H, 0.053 m/h) and selectivity (S, 68.05) in comparison with the direct casting QPPO-SiO2 hybrid membrane, of which possess relatively lower values of U-H (0.041 m/h) and S (49.45). Besides, compared with commercial DF-120 membrane (U-H=0.005-0.009 m/h, and S=18.5-23.5), hot-pressed electrospun QPPO-SiO2 membrane shows more than approx.7 times higher U-H and approx.3 times higher S values underling its advantage in DD application. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.