Novel Thin Film Nanocomposite Membranes Based on Chitosan Succinate Modified with Fe-BTC for Enhanced Pervaporation Dehydration of Isopropanol

Abstract

The application of environmentally friendly and energy-efficient membrane processes allows improvement the ecological safety and sustainability of industrial production. However, the effective application of membrane processes requires novel high-performance thin film composite (TFC) membranes based on biopolymers to solve environmental problems. In this work for the first time novel thin film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes based on biopolymer chitosan succinate (ChS) modified with the metal organic framework iron 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate (Fe-BTC) were developed for enhanced pervaporation dehydration. The formation of a selective layer of TFN membranes on the porous membrane-support was carried out by two methods—dynamic technique and physical adsorption. The effect of the membrane formation method and Fe-BTC content in ChS layer on the structure and physicochemical properties of TFN membranes was investigated. The developed TFN ChS-based membranes were evaluated in the pervaporation dehydration of isopropanol (12–30 wt.% water). It was found that TFN ChS-Fe-BTC membranes prepared by two methods demonstrated improved permeation flux compared to the reference TFC ChS membrane. The best transport properties in pervaporation dehydration of isopropanol (12–30 wt.% water) were possessed by TFN membranes with 40 wt.% Fe-BTC prepared by dynamic technique (permeation flux 99–499 g m−2 h−1 and 99.99% water in permeate) and TFN membranes with 5 wt.% Fe-BTC developed by physical adsorption (permeation flux 180–701 g m−2 h−1 and 99.99% water in permeate).

Development and Investigation of Hierarchically Structured Thin-Film Nanocomposite Membranes from Polyamide/Chitosan Succinate Embedded with a Metal-Organic Framework (Fe-BTC) for Pervaporation

“…The ChS or ChS-Fe-BTC interlayer was deposited on the surface of a porous membrane substrate via the dynamic technique (dead-end ultrafiltration of aqueous ChS solution or ChS-Fe-BTC aqueous dispersion, through a porous PAN membrane). The structure, physicochemical properties, and pervaporation performance of ChS/PAN and ChS-Fe-BTC TFC membranes were discussed in detail in [ 83 ]. It was found that the introduction of 30 wt % of Fe-BTC with respect to the ChS weight yields an increase in the thickness of the membrane selective layer (from 0.44 to 4.53 µm), along with the roughness (average surface roughness (R a ) increased from 3.44 to 8.95 nm) and water contact angle (increased from 30 ± 2° to 36 ± 2°) of the selective layer surface.…”

“…The preparation of ChS/MA aqueous solutions, as well as the formation of a ChS interlayer on the PAN membrane-support in the dynamic mode, were reported in our previous work [ 83 ]. Briefly, a ChS interlayer on the surface of the porous PAN membrane support was formed using an aqueous solution containing 1.0 wt % ChS and 0.15 wt % maleic anhydride (MA).…”

“…Then, a calculated amount of the Fe-BTC-EDTANa dispersion was added to the ChS/MA solution to obtain ChS/Fe-BTC at a ratio of 1:0.3 by weight, mixed for 10 min using a magnetic stirrer, and then sonicated for 30 min. The Fe-BTC concentration was selected according to our previous study [ 83 ].…”

“…The first layer of the composite membrane was left for 2 h at room temperature; thereafter, the second layer was deposited. The obtained membranes were dried for 2 h at 110 °C in an oven to allow the crosslinking of ChS by MA [ 83 ].…”

Pervaporation Polyvinyl Alcohol Membranes Modified with Zr-Based Metal Organic Frameworks for Isopropanol Dehydration

“…Mixed matrix membranes with MOFs as modifiers are promising for application in pervaporation due to the unique structural properties of MOFs, ease of modification, as well as good compatibility between MOFs and the polymer matrix. To develop pervaporation membranes, MOFs were used to modify polymers such as polyimide [ 27 , 28 ], cardo polyetherketone [ 29 ], polyether-block-amide [ 30 ], polyarylethersulfone [ 31 ], chitosan [ 32 , 33 , 34 ], a polymer of intrinsic microporosity PIM-1 [ 35 ], polydimethylsiloxane [ 36 , 37 ], polyamide [ 38 ], polyethyleneimine [ 39 ], sodium alginate [ 40 , 41 ], polyvinyl alcohol [ 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 ], etc.…”