Journal of Applied Polymer Science, Vol.54, No.12, 1937-1943, 1994
Effect of Surface-Modifying Macromolecules and Solvent Evaporation Time on the Performance of Polyethersulfone Membranes for the Separation of Chloroform Water Mixtures by Pervaporation
Polyethersulfone (PES) membranes using different evaporation periods were fabricated by the phase-inversion method. Pervaporation experiments were conducted for chloroform/water mixtures to determine the selectivity of the PES membranes. It was found that chloroform could be concentrated in the permeate from chloroform/water binary feed mixtures by PES membranes prepared using longer evaporation periods, and that the selectivity of PES membranes in pervaporation could be reversed by shorter evaporation periods. This study also showed that by adding surface-modifying macromolecules (SMM) up to 1 wt % into the casting solution, chloroform enrichment in the permeate could be increased by 50%. Chloroform enrichment increased with increasing SMM concentration until an optimal value, after which the enrichment decreased.