Polyaniline membranes for the dehydration of tetrahydrofuran by pervaporation

Pervaporation could be applied to a far more diverse range of applications if available polymeric membranes were stable in aprotic solvents. Tetrahydrofuran (THF) is an aprotic solvent of particular interest as it is widely used in the pharmaceutical industry and forms an azeotrope with water complicating separation using traditional techniques. Polyaniline, a polymer widely known to be poorly soluble in a wide range of solvents has been successfully fabricated into an asymmetric membrane and stabilised by thermally induced cross-linking to result in a THF stable pervaporation membrane tested over 40 h. Water fluxes of up to 0.45 kg m−2 h−1 have been attained when operating at 55 °C and dehydration has been shown to be possible to a water concentration of 0.16 wt.%.