Abstract
In this paper, were study the pervaporation of mono-nitrophenols in a laboratory installation of the Membrane, Materials, and Membrane Processes Group of the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, from aqueous synthetic solutions, to composite membranes with polysulfone matrix (PSf) and nanometric inclusions: Polyaniline (PANI), carbon nanotubes (CNT), magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) and sulfonated polyetheretherketone (PEEK-S). Tests carried out over 144 h at a pressure of 100 mm Hg or 5 L / min air flow at 25oC and pH 7 of the feed solution show that vacuum pervaporation is better than vacuum. The more advanced composite membranes are those with sulfonated polyether-ether cellulose (PSf-PEEK-S) and polyaniline (PSf-PANI) ionizers. The results of airborne pervaporation show that composite membranes (PSf-PEEK-S and PSf-PANI) present a marked difference in flux for the mono-mono-nitrophenol isomers, which could also be found in a technically exploitable selectivity. Thus, in the case of the PSf-PEEK-S composite membrane, the mono-nitro-phenol streams decrease in the order: m-C6H5NO3] o-C6H5NO3] p-C6H5NO3, while for the PSf-PANI composite membrane the order is o-C6H5NO3] m-C6H5NO3] p-C6H5NO3. At the same time, it is noted that the PSf-PEEK-S composite membrane performance is superior during operation, but shows the opposite of the more pronounced drop.
Keywords: composite membranes; pervaporation; mono-nitrophenol’s separation; membrane processes