Characterisation and Pervaporation Study on Ethanol Separation Membranes

Inorganic membranes have many advantages for dehydration of\ud azeotropic mixtures of ethanol and water for renewable fuel\ud purposes. In this work, we developed an inorganic membrane from\ud c-alumina and tested it for its ability to selectively permeate water\ud over ethanol. Ethanol adsorbed both chemically and physically on\ud the surface of c-alumina, blocking the 47A ˚ pores sufficiently to\ud enhance water selectivity. Stable flux was observed over 6 h, but\ud after 4–5 h of continuous testing, water selectivity rose above 200\ud due to this blocking phenomenon