Pervaporative performances of mixed matrix membranes filled with silica/silicalite-1 particles for purification of toluene from dilute aqueous solution

In this study, the performance of mixed matrix membranes for the removal of toluene from water by pervaporation was tested. Silicalite-1 or silica nanoparticles were incorporated into the PDMS matrix on a PES support layer. Silicalite-1 was synthesized and characterized by XRD, particle size analyzer, and ATR-FTIR. The fabricated membranes were characterized by SEM, XRD, and AFM. The results showed that the fillers up to a certain value (2.5 wt% of silicalite-1 or 5 wt% of silica) can be distributed uniformly in the membrane matrix. The sorption of membrane is improved by incorporating these fillers. To obtain the optimum amount of fillers, the prepared membranes by different filler contents were tested on a pervaporation setup. The results showed that incorporating each of the fillers greatly enhances the enrichment factor of the composite membrane (in the range of 82–236%) while it generally decreases the permeation flux (in the range of 2–90%). The best enhancement in performance was achieved by adding 10 wt% silicalite-1 where it increased the enrichment factor by 289% and the normalized total flux by 15% compared to the unfilled membrane.

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