Pervaporation separation of ethylacetate-water mixtures through a crosslinked poly(vinylalcohol) membrane

The pervaporation separation of ethylacetate-water mixtures was carried out using poly(vinyl alcohol) membranes prepared by crosslinking with tartaric acid. Pervaporation experiments were conducted for 1-2.5 wt% water containing ethylacetate-water binary mixtures at 30 °C, 40 °C and 50 °C. It is observed that permeation rates increased and selectivity decreased with increasing content of water in the feed. As a result of variations in fluxes, with an increase in temperature, the selectivity increased for the 2 and 2.5 wt% water containing mixture, but decreased for the 1 wt% water content. However, the selectivity of the 1.5 wt% water containing mixture decreased slightly. The ethylacetate and water fluxes showed almost the same trend with both temperature and water concentration changes in the feed. Meanwhile, the variation amount between fluxes of ethylacetate at 40 °C and 50 °C was evidently less than those of fluxes at 30 °C and 40 °C.