Pervaporative dehydration of 1-methoxy propanol with acrylonitrile based co-polymer membranes prepared through emulsion polymerization: a solubility parameter approach and study of structural impact

Pervaporative dehydration of 1-methoxy propanol (MP) over the entire concentration range of 0–100% is studied. The membrane selection criterion for a particular component separation has been discussed with the help of pervaporative separation of water from a mixture of water and 1-MP. For this study polyacrylonitrile (PAN)–homo-polymer and six of its different co-polymer membranes, namely, PAN–maleic anhydride (Manh), PAN–hydroyethylmethacrylate (HEMA), PAN–acrylic acid (Aa), PAN–methacrylic acid (MAa), PAN–methylmethacrylate (MMA), and PAN–styrene (Sty) prepared through emulsion polymerization. Performances of these membranes are compared with PAN–homo-polymer. The co-polymer properties, in particular, solubility parameter, component group contribution and interaction parameter values are used to explain perm-behavior (selectivity and flux). Co-polymers of AN showed good selectivity with reasonable flux.