Structure, morphology and separation efficiency of hybrid Alg/Fe3O4 membranes in pervaporative dehydration of ethanol.

Pervaporation is a membrane separation technology applied especially for the dehydration of organic solvents. Since its excellent permselectivity toward water, sodium alginate has been identified as the promising membrane material for the pervaporative dehydration of ethanol. Hybrid alginate membranes filled with various amount of magnetite (Fe 3 O 4 ) and crosslinked using four different agents, i.e. calcium chloride (AlgCa), phosphoric acid (AlgP), glutaraldehyde (AlgGA) and citric acid (AlgC) were prepared and applied in pervaporative dehydration of ethanol. In this paper, the correlation between chemical composition, structure and morphology, and separation properties of membranes is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]