Pervaporation performance of unfilled and filled PDMS and novel SBS membrane for the removal of toluene from diluted aqueous solutions

In this study, the influence of downstream pressure on the pervaporative removal of toluene from water was investigated. An unfilled and CBV 3002-filled PDMS membranes were compared with dense and porous SBS membranes. Experiments were performed by varying the downstream pressure from 1 to 40 mbar. It was found that the performance factors of all examined membranes were dependent on pressure. Water and toluene flux decreased with increasing downstream pressure, resulting in increased membrane separation factors. From the analysis of the intrinsic membrane properties, it was found that toluene sorption was enhanced at higher pressures. Fillers incorporation, in PDMS- based membranes, enhanced the toluene removal and separation performance. The porous SBS membrane showed the highest value of toluene flux but also the lowest selectivity factor. The dense SBS membranes showed similar separation factors as PDMS membranes with an higher toluene removal.status: accepte