Fabrication of PEBA/Cu2O mixed-matrix membranes and their application in pyridine recovery from aqueous solution

The lone pair of electrons of the pyridine nitrogen atom can form a complex with some metal ions such as Cu+, Ag+, etc. Therefore, in this paper, Cu2O nanocrystal particles were synthesized and incorporated into polyether-block-amides (PEBA) to prepare novel PEBA/Cu2O mixed-matrix membranes (MMMs). The prepared Cu2O/PEBA MMMs were characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectrum (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and contact angle goniometer. The effects of Cu2O incorporation on swelling and the pervaporation performance of Cu2O/PEBA MMMs were evaluated with pyridine/water binary mixtures. The results indicated that the separation factor increased first, and then decreased, with increasing Cu2O content, which subsequently led to a decrease in permeation flux. The optimal performance was achieved when the weight fraction of Cu2O in the PEBA/Cu2O MMMs was 6.0 wt% with a flux of 89.3 g m(-2) h(-1) (decreased by 13.1% compared with the pristine PEBA membrane) and separation factor of 10.22 (increased by 22.8% compared with the pristine PEBA membrane) for a 1.0 wt% pyridine aqueous solution at 30 degrees C. The influence of process parameters such as feed temperature and feed pyridine concentration on pervaporation performance were also investigated. This work demonstrated that PEBA/Cu2O MMMs could be considered as potential candidates for practical pyridine production recovery.