Separation of aqueous phenol through polyurethane membranes by pervaporation

✍ Scribed by Masaru Hoshi; Masao Kogure; Takanori Saitoh; Tsutomu Nakagawa

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 297 KB
• Volume: 65
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-8995
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-4628(19970718)65:3<469::aid-app6>3.0.co;2-f

✦ Synopsis

The separation of a phenol-water mixture using a polyurethane membrane by a pervaporation method was investigated. Polyurethane was selected as a membrane material because its affinity for phenol was considered to be high. Polyurethane was prepared by the polyaddition of 1,6-diisocyanatohexane and polytetramethyleneglycol. The polyurethane layer was sandwiched with a porous polypropylene membrane (Celgard 2500). Pervaporation measurement was carried out under vacuum on the permeate side, and the permeate vapor was collected with a liquid nitrogen trap. The phenol concentration in the permeate solution increased from 0 to 65 wt % with increasing feed concentration of phenol from 0 to 7 wt %. The total flux also increased up to 930 g m 02 h 01 with increasing phenol partial flux. In the sorption measurement at 60ЊC, the concentration of phenol in the membrane was 68 wt %, which was higher than that of the permeate solution. Therefore, it was considered that the phenol selectivity was based on high solubility in the polyurethane membranes.