Composite Polyvinyl Alcohol/Polyethersulfone Membrane for Solvent Dehydration by Pervaporation

In the present work, the composite polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/polyethersulfone (PES) membrane was prepared by the phase inversion technique and used for the solvent dehydration by the pervaporation membrane process. The effect of the membrane thickness on the separation performance of the composite membrane was studied. The SEM analysis was employed to characterize the prepared membranes and the separation performance was evaluated for a 90 wt.% ethanol aqueous solution. The results showed that the permeate flux through membranes decreased markedly with increasing the membrane thickness, while the water selectivity increased