VTOS Cross-Linked PDMS Membranes for Recovery of Ethanol from Aqueous Solution by Pervaporation

Abstract

PDMS membranes were prepared by cross-linking with vinyltriethoxysilane (VTOS) on polyacrylonitrile (PAN) substrate to increase hydrophobicity and improve pervaporation (PV) performance. It was shown that the membranes had high ethanol permselectivity and flux. The effects of cross-linking temperature, the content of cross-linking agent, and feed temperature on PV performance of VTOS cross-linked PDMS membranes were investigated. For 6 wt% ethanol aqueous solution, the PDMS membrane had the high separation factor of 15.5 and total flux 573.3 g·m−2·h−1, respectively, when the feed temperature was 40°C, H-PDMS : VTOS : DBTDL = 1 : 0.2 : 0.02 and cross-linking temperature was 80°C.