Polyethylene glycol/polyurethane blend membranes for gasoline desulphurization by pervaporation technique

PEG/PU blend membranes were effectively used for FCC gasoline desulphurization by pervaporation. Membrane characterization was conducted by FTIR analysis and X-ray diffraction studies. With the FCC gasoline feed, the pervaporation and desulphurization performance of the membranes under various conditions were investigated. Higher sulphur enrichment factor (4.03) and permeation flux (2.5 kg/(m2 h)) compared with the literature data on the PV desulphurization were obtained for PEG/PU blend membranes, which was due to the synergistic effect between the polymers. It was also observed by detailed GC analysis that the PEG/PU membranes had excellent removal effect for thiophene species, which verified the applicability of the solubility parameter theory in complex organic mixture separation by PV. The novel PEG/PU blend membranes showed better performance than PEG membranes for the sulphur removal and the related investigations will provide helpful suggestions for the newly emerged membrane desulphurization technology.