Fabrication of high silicalite-1 content filled PDMS thin composite pervaporation membrane for the separation of ethanol from aqueous solutions

Sedimentation of silicalite-1 occurs in the fabrication of thin silicalite-1 filled polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) hybrid composite membranes if the viscosity of membrane solution is low, which makes this preparation challenging. In this work, a new method that use a platinum catalytic agent to assist the pre-polymerization of PDMS polymer to increase the viscosity of the membrane solution was studied. With this method, supported silicalite-1 filled PDMS hybrid composite membranes were fabricated and applied in the pervaporative separation of a 5 wt% dilute ethanol aqueous solution. The effect of the concentration of platinum catalytic agent on the membrane properties was first investigated using CRM, DSC and extraction experiment. Optimum of viscosity of the composite membrane solution was then conducted and a selective layer of as thin as 5 µm thickness was obtained with a flux of 5.52 kg/m²h in combination with a separation factor of 15.5 at 50 °C. After that the separation performances of different thick membranes, interfacial adhesion properties of hybrid membranes, comparisons with other reported results and membrane stability were investigated. Results showed homemade silicalite-1-PDMS hybrid composite membrane offers relatively high separation performance, indicating a potential industrial application for the separation of ethanol from aqueous solutions.