Novel porous ceramic tube-supported polymer layer membranes for acetic acid/water separation by pervaporation dewatering

Journal Article · Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Separation and Purification Technology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2019.116312· OSTI ID:1607101

Lu, Aimee L. Church  ^[1]; Hu, Michael  ^[1]

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1. ORNL

New polymer-ceramic hybrid membranes consisting of sulfonated polybenzimidazole (sPBI) coating layer on porous ceramic tube supports have been successfully developed for acetic acid/water separation by selective pervaporation removal of water from the liquid mixtures. The enabling preparation procedure that were critical to form crack/defect-free polymer layer coated intimately on the wall surface of ceramic support tubes is reported. Air humidity during dip coating, the dying method, and pre-mixing of polymer solution were found critical to the intimate adherence, crack-free, and uniformity of the coating membrane layer on the wall of porous ceramic tube. Our hybrid membranes have shown a high-flux selective separation performance data: 2.5–10 times higher flux than previously reported state-of-the-art value (~0.15 LMH) for free-standing sPBI polymer membranes. Also, the ceramic tube-supported membranes provide better mechanical ruggedness, pervaporation stability, and a unique platform for large scale multi-tube membrane module applications.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1607101
• Journal Information: Separation and Purification Technology, Vol. 236, Issue n/a
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English