Collect. Czech. Chem. Commun. 1994, 59, 620-626
https://doi.org/10.1135/cccc19940620

Pervaporation of Ethanol and Water Through Polymeric Membranes with Incorporated N-(Halogenophenyl)maleimide Units

Jan Lokaj and Jitka Bílá

Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 162 06 Prague 6, Czech Republic

Abstract

Styrene N-(chloro- or bromophenyl)maleimide and methyl methacrylate N-(chloro- or bromophenyl)maleimide copolymers were synthesized. Membranes casted from the copolymer solutions were used for the pervaporation of ethanol water mixtures at 35 °C. The membranes were characterized by the separation factor related to the preferentially transported water and by the permeate flux. The pervaporation characteristics were dependent on the hydrophilicity or polarity of the polymer chains, on the kind and position of the halogen and on the composition of the mixture to be separated. Membranes made from the copolymers of styrene with N-(2-chlorophenyl)maleimide or N-(2-bromophenyl)maleimide show the highest separation factors in the separation of concentrated ethanol solutions. The permeate flux through membranes made from the copolymers of methyl methacrylate with N-(halogenophenyl)maleimide was by one order of magnitude higher than through membranes made from similar styrene copolymers.