Polystyrene derivative-blended nanocomposite membranes for pervaporation dehydration of hydrazine

Hydrazine is an inorganic chemical that has found use in various applications, such as fuel for jets, rockets, missiles and space shuttles. In the present study, polystyrene (PS) based membranes were developed and explored for hydrazine dehydration by pervaporation process. In addition to the separation performance, the physiochemical and morphological characteristics of the membranes were assessed and correlated to the findings. Investigation of the effects of structural and operating parameters revealed that increase in the membrane thickness enhanced selectivity and separation index (PSI) to 18.79 and 61, respectively. In addition, raising feed temperature from 36 C-o to 56 C-o caused increments in membrane flux, selectivity and PSI. However, increasing feed flow rate only improved water flux. Membranes exhibited reasonable flux and separation performance for the wide range of studied feed compositions. Two modification methods were employed to tailor the characteristics of PS membranes. Blending PS with acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) led to 27% improvement in total flux while selectivity and PSI reached to as high as 14.3 and 104.6, respectively. Also, nanocomposite membranes containing 2 wt% TiO2 exhibited total flux of 30.9 (g/m(2)center dot h) and PSI of 175.9.