PERVAPORATION SEPARATION OF ETHANOL WATER MIXTURES USING IONICALLY CROSSLINKED BLENDED POLYACRYLIC-ACID (PAA)-NYLON-6 MEMBRANES

The pervaporation separation of ethanol-water mixtures was carried out through a series of ionically crosslinked polyacrylic acid (PAA)-Nylon 6-blended membranes crosslinked to varying degrees in aluminum nitrate solution. The polyacrylic acid (PAA)-Nylon 6 membranes were cast from homogeneous PAA-Nylon 6 mixtures to various thicknesses and then crosslinked. Optimum pervaporation results were obtained from crosslinked blends containing 75 wt percent Nylon 6 and 25 wt percent PAA. These membranes have separation factors (water/ethanol) of 35-40 at flux rates of 120-160 g/m**2 h. The optimum crosslinking time was found to be approximately 35 h to yield membranes with the best separation and flux rates at 25 wt percent PAA content.