Preparation of cellulose acetate membrane filled with metal oxide particles for the pervaporation separation of methanol/methyl tert-butyl ether mixtures

In this work, a new pervaporation cellulose acetate (CA) membrane filled with metal oxide particles was prepared to intensify the separation of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE)/methanol mixtures. The SEM and Raman spectrometry revealed that the particles of metal oxide were evenly dispersed in the membrane matrix and made a denser membrane. When the content of Al2O3 and ZnO was 1.98 wt% and 4 wt%, respectively, both the permeation flux and separation factor of blended CA membrane were higher than those of pure CA membrane. In comparison with the pure CA membrane, the maximum flux of blended membrane filled with Al2O3 and ZnO improved 96.5% and 111.1%, respectively; the maximum separation factor improved 48.0% and 37.8%, respectively. In addition to the substantially improved permeation flux and selectivity, the CA membrane filled with metal oxide was found easy to prepare and with low cost.