Mixed matrix membranes with hybrid star-shaped macromolecules for mono- and dihydric alcohols pervaporation

Effect of polystyrene stars with fullerene C60cores on pervaporation properties of poly(phenylene oxide) membrane

“…Transport properties of membranes developed in the present work are compared with previously reported results for a PPO/HSM(5%) membrane that exhibited the best properties in separation of methanol–EG mixture among the published polymer membranes . Figure shows data for separation factor and total flux of PPO, PPO/FPS(5%) and PPO/HSM(5%) membranes in pervaporation of methanol–EG mixture.…”

“…The reason of such a limitation is connected with the hybrid membrane stability under operating conditions of pervaporation. From previous work, membranes containing above 5 wt% star‐shaped macromolecules are not stable in the methanol–EG feed: within several hours they lose mechanical strength and become inefficient for the use in pervaporation. When the concentration of the star polymer HSM containing six PS arms and six arms of copolymer poly(2‐vinylpyridine‐ block ‐poly‐ tert ‐butylmethacrylate) on the general fullerene C 60 core is above 5 wt%, the membrane swells due the high content of the poly(2‐vinylpyridine) block .…”

“…Poly(2,6‐dimethyl‐1,4‐phenylene oxide) (PPO) is an available membrane material that has been used for pervaporation of methanol–ethylene glycol mixtures in pure form and in modified form . In our previous work, a special approach to physical modification of PPO was implemented by including hybrid star‐shaped macromolecules as filler (up to 5 wt%) into the PPO matrix.…”

“…Poly(2,6‐dimethyl‐1,4‐phenylene oxide) (PPO) is an available membrane material that has been used for pervaporation of methanol–ethylene glycol mixtures in pure form and in modified form . In our previous work, a special approach to physical modification of PPO was implemented by including hybrid star‐shaped macromolecules as filler (up to 5 wt%) into the PPO matrix. The star‐shaped filler consisted of a small core, which was a molecule of fullerene C 60 (diameter of 7.1 Å), and two types of tethered arms of different chemical nature: nonpolar polystyrene (PS) and a polar copolymer of poly(2‐vinylpyridine‐ block ‐poly‐ tert ‐butylmetacrylate) (denoted as HSM).…”

Pervaporation Desulfurization of a Thiophene/n-Octane Mixture Using PPO Membranes Modified with Hybrid Star-Shaped Macromolecules

“…Previously, it was found that PPO can be used as a hydrophobic membrane material for the separation of liquid and gaseous media; it was effectively used in the organophilic pervaporation process [24][25][26]. Membranes made of PPO modified with star-shaped macromolecules with a fullerene C 60 central core were effective in the separation of a methanol-ethylene glycol binary alcohol mixture [27][28][29]. The addition of a modifier to the polymer matrix leads to a significant change in the structure of film membranes [30,31], which has a positive effect on the selectivity and efficiency of purification of ethylene glycol from methanol impurities.…”