Solvent resistant chitosan/poly(ether-block-amide) composite membranes for pervaporation of n-methyl-2-pyrrolidone/water mixtures. (20th January 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Prasad, N. Shiva; Moulik, Siddhartha; Bohra, Subha; Rani, K. Yamuna; Sridhar, S.
• Is Part Of: Carbohydrate polymers. Volume 136(2016)
• Page Start: 1170
• Page End: 1181
• Publication Date: 2016-01-20
• Subjects: Pervaporation -- n-Methyl-2-pyrolidone/water mixtures -- Chitosan/poly(ether-block-amide) composite membrane -- CFD -- Plug flow model; Polysaccharides -- Periodicals; Polysaccharides -- Periodicals; Polysaccharides -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 547.78
• DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2015.10.037
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0144-8617

Abstract

Highlights: Synthesis of novel solvent resistant chitosan/PEBA-2533 composite membrane. Dehydration of polar aprotic n -methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) solvent by pervaporation. Hydrodynamic simulation using computational fluid dynamics. Simulation based on plug flow and complete mixing model to facilitate plant design. Abstract: A novel composite barrier comprising of hydrophilic and solvent resistant chitosan (CS) membrane on porous solvent resistant poly(ether- block- amide) (PEBA-2533) substrate was synthesized for pervaporation (PV) based dehydration of the polar aprotic n -methyl-2-pyrolidone (NMP) green solvent. The composite barrier was crosslinked with tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) to control swelling and enhance selectivity. Operating parameters such as feed water concentration, permeate pressure and membrane thickness were varied to assess membrane flux and selectivity. A two-dimensional finite element method (FEM) model was developed to predict the concentration profile within the membrane through computational fluid dynamics (CFD). On the basis of complete mixing experiments, a numerical simulation was performed to predict membrane area requirement and exit streams' compositions for commercial pervaporation units operated in plug flow mode. Both unmodified chitosan and tetraethyl orthosilicate crosslinked composite membranes successfully separated feed mixture containing 4.6 wt% water by exhibiting water fluxes of 0.024 and 0.019 kg/m 2 h, whereas the corresponding selectivities were found to be as high as 182 and 225, respectively.