Pervaporation of MTBE/methanol mixtures through PVA membranes Original Research Article

Sorption and pervaporation experiments were carried outwith PVA/PAA cross-linked membranes for the separation of azeotropic methyl tert-butyl ether and methanol mixtures. The influence of the PVA/PAA ratio and liquid mixture composition were investigated. With increasing PAA content in the membranes, solubilities and fluxes decreased and selectivities increased. Total sorption and fluxes increased with increasing concentration of McOH. Increasing the concentration of McOH resulted in decreasing selectivities. Because of polarity, McOH permeated selectively through the membranes. Sorption results showed the same tendency with pervaporation results.