Pervaporation of Ethanol/Water Mixtures by Polyethylene based Fly Ash Composite Membranes

Abstract

In this study new cross-linked polyethylene based membrane was prepared by solution casting method in the presence of solvent Xylene using different proportions of fly ash particles. These composite membranes showed good selectivity and flux towards organics separation as compared to pure polymer membrane. Membranes were used in a lab scale pervaporation setup to separate 10 wt. % of ethanol water mixture. Membrane sample M4 with 10 wt. % of total polymer content showed the highest flux during experiments i.e. 873 gm/m²h and separation factor was also best for this sample.