Pervaporation performance of crosslinked PVA membranes in the vicinity of the glass transition temperature

Abstract

This work investigates the pervaporation performance of crosslinked poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) membranes for ethanol dehydration near the glass transition. The solubility of water and ethanol mixture in the membranes was measured as a function of feed composition and sorption temperature, and the data was modelled by perturbed-chain statistical associating fluid theory (PC-SAFT). Importantly, this approach allows the solubility of the two components to be determined individually. Model results show that the heat of sorption of water and ethanol was constant across the temperature range. Water permeance generally decreased when operational temperature increased, indicating a solubility-contro..