Pervaporation separation of ethyl butyrate and isopropanol with polyether block amide (PEBA) membranes

Polyether block amide (PEBA) membranes were prepared by the solution castin g technique. The membranes were investigated for the pervaporation separati on of isopropanol-water and ethyl butyrate-water mixtures. The effects of f eed concentration and temperature on the separation performance of the memb ranes were studied. The overall performance of pervaporation separation was evaluated in term of the pervaporation separation index (PSI), which is a composite parameter combining permeation flux and separation factor. It was shown that under the same operating conditions, the pervaporation separati on of aqueous ethyl butyrate solution was more efficient than the separatio n of aqueous isopropanol solutions. It was observed that both permeation fl ux and separation factor increased with an increase in feed ethyl butyrate content, while an increase in temperature resulted in an increase in permea tion flux and a reduction in separation factor. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B .V. All rights reserved.