Development of inorganic nano particles modified sodium alginate hybrid membranes for pervaporation

In order to improve the pervaporation performance of SA, nano-alumina, nano-zirconia and nano-titania were incorporated into SA solution, respectively. The difference of pervaporatin performance was analyzed, and the membrane that had better separation performance was selected for pervaporation (PV)-assisted esterification of acetic acid and ethanol. The effect of nano-particles content on the separation performance was investigated. The obtained membranes were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetry (TG) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The thermal stability, tensile strength and permeate flux of hybrid membranes were enhanced after incorporating nano-particles into SA. When the mass ratio of nanoparticles to SA was 0.3, the methylene iodide contact angle of incorporated TiO₂, ZrO₂ and Al₂O₃ hybrid membranes increased, respectively. Meanwhile, the permeate flux increased at the same time. The hydrophilic property of SA-0.3Al₂O₃ membrane was the best; however, the separation performance of SA-0.3ZrO₂ membrane was better. The permeate flux of SA-0.3ZrO₂ membrane was 336 g·m^-2·h^-1 with water content 99.97% in the permeate side and separation factor 29990 when the amount of water in feed was 10% at 50℃. The conversion of esterification enhanced by pervaporation reached 93.9% in 12 h at 80℃.