Pervaporation catalytic membrane reactor application over functional chitosan membrane

In this study, homogeneous catalyst "Sulfosuccinic acid" was added into the polymer matrix, and the functional catalytic membrane was prepared. Chitosan was chosen as a polymeric material. Sulfosuccinic acid (SSA) loaded functional chitosan membranes have been used to synthesize fuel bioadditive ethyl levulinate in a pervaporation catalytic membrane reactor. The functional membrane was characterized by the TGA and SEM. The performance of SSA loaded functional chitosan membranes was investigated with binary mixtures of ethanol/water under varying operating conditions (feed concentration, temperature, SSA amount) to study the influence on separation performance. Pervaporation catalytic membrane reactor experiments were carried out to optimize operating conditions such as reaction time, reaction temperature, catalyst amount, and molar feed ratio. The kinetic model in PVCMR with the functional membrane was applied to the experimental data. The theoretical conversion data were fitted well with the experimental data. The proposed model is found as suitable for the study being conducted.