The pervaporation (PV) separation performance of ZSM-5- and Na-Y-type zeolite-filled sodium alginate (NaAlg) membranes were compared with those of pure NaAlg and semi-interpenetrating polymer network (semi-IPN) membranes of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) with polyaniline (PANI) for the dehydration of acetonitrile. The PV separation characteristics of the zeolite-filled membranes showed a dependence on the nature of the zeolites. The variation of the acidity function of the ZSM-5 zeolite had an influence on the flux and selectivity of the membranes when compared to unfilled membranes. The crosslinked membranes were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Increasing the PANI content of the semi-IPN network increased the separation selectivity. Among the NaAlg membranes, the plain NaAlg membrane showed the highest selectivity of 414 at 30 mass % water in the feed mixture, whereas the Na-Y- and ZSM-5 (40)-filled NaAlg membranes exhibited much lower values of selectivity, that is, 7.3 and 4.3, respectively for 30 mass % water in the feed. When the flux and selectivity data of ZSM-5 (250)-filled NaAlg membranes were compared with that of Na-Y- or ZSM-5 (40)-filled NaAlg membranes, a noticeable increase in the selectivity for the ZSM-5 (250)filled NaAlg membrane was observed, but a somewhat comparable flux was observed compared to the plain NaAlg membrane. For the first time, PANI was polymerized with PVA to yield a semi-IPN. The total flux and water flux increased systematically, whereas the selectivity decreased greatly from 251.87 to 5.95 with increasing amounts of water in the feed. (c) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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