Chitosan coated zeolite filled regenerated cellulose membrane for dehydration of ethylene glycol/water mixtures by pervaporation

A novel membrane was prepared by coating chitosan on zeolite filled regenerated cellulose membrane, produced by the dissolution of cellulose with N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide (NMMO) solution. The resulting membranes were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and scanning electron microscope. The effect of zeolite loading, chitosan coating, feed composition and temperature on the pervaporation performance of the membranes for the dehydration of water–ethylene glycol mixtures was analyzed. The regenerated cellulose membranes including different zeolite content gave low separation factor value in the separation of water from ethylene glycol. However, high separation factor value was obtained with the chitosan coated zeolite filled cellulose membrane because coating of zeolite filled membrane with chitosan eliminated the nonselective voids. With the increase of water concentration in feed solution, the total flux increased with the increase in the operating temperature while the separation factor decreased. The results of this study are a clear evidence of increase in membrane performance due to the coating of zeolite filled cellulose membrane by chitosan for the ethylene glycol/water mixtures.