Novel Hydrophilic Chitosan and Sago Based Membranes for Pervaporation of Organic-Water Mixtures

Abstract

This study focuses on the utilization of natural polysaccharides as membrane material for the separation of liquid-liquid systems and the potential of membrane pervaporation process to recover drilling mud. Hydrophilic membranes derived from chitosan and sago starch were developed and modified for the pervaporation of ethanol-water, ethyl acetate-water and cesium/potassium formate-water. Membranes were modified through polymer blending, chemical cross-linking as well as heat treatment. Response surface methodology (RSM) was also used to study the optimum preparation conditions of sago starch membranes for the recovery of drilling mud. Increasing feed concentration increases flux and decrease separation factor for both chitosan and sago based membranes. Using RSM, the optimum preparation conditions of sago based membranes was found to be at 65 wt.% of sago, 1.5 wt.% of glutaraldehyde and heat treated at 110°C. Pervaporation was also demonstrated to be feasible for the recovery of cesium/potassium formate drilling mud.