Layer-by-layer (LbL) polyelectrolyte membrane with Nexar™ polymer as a polyanion for pervaporation dehydration of ethanol

Gui Min Shi, Jian Zuo, Shyuan Hong Tang, Shawn Wei, Tai-Shung Chung*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

48 Scopus citations

Abstract

Novel LbL polyelectrolyte multilayer membrane (PEMM) with Nexar™ polymer, a sulfonated pentablock copolymer, as the polyanion on a hydrolyzed polyacrylonitrile (PAN) hollow fiber substrate has been developed for pervaporation dehydration of ethanol. The advantages of applying the sulfonated copolymer as the polyanion are that the required bi-layer numbers can be significantly reduced while achieving a good separation performance. With just one bi-layer of polyethyleneimine (PEI) polycation and Nexar™ polyanion, the newly developed PEMM shows a flux of 1160 g/m2 h and a separation factor of 127 at 50 °C for ethanol dehydration. The PEMM exhibits good stability up to a 170-h continuous operation with a flux decline at the initial stage because of substrate densification. This study demonstrates the possibility of employing the sulfonated pentablock copolymer as a polyanion for PEMMs to dehydrate biofuel via pervaporation.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)13-22
Number of pages10
JournalSeparation and Purification Technology
Volume140
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 1 2015

Keywords

  • Ethanol dehydration
  • Layer-by-layer
  • Membranes
  • Pervaporation
  • Polyelectrolyte

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Analytical Chemistry
  • Filtration and Separation

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