Chitosan/poly(vinyl alcohol)/graphene oxide mixed matrix membrane for the pervaporation dehydration of ethylene glycol

Chitosan/poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/graphene oxide (GO) mixed matrix membrane (MMM) for the pervaporation dehydration of ethylene glycol (EG) was fabricated in this work. Characterizations were carried out on how the GO content affects the membrane morphology, hydrophilicity, and mechanical property. Also, the effect of GO content on the membrane performance for pervaporation dehydration of EG under different feed concentrations and temperatures was investigated. It is demonstrated that the GO could enhance the hydrophilicity and push up the trade-off between the permeability and selectivity of the chitosan/PVA membrane. The membrane with 0.1 wt% GO was found to have the most favorable pervaporation performance under nearly all tested conditions. For instance, under a feed temperature of 50 celcius and feed EG concentration of 80 wt%, the membrane with 0.1 wt% GO showed a water permeation flux of 2129.14 g/m(2)h, which increased by 37% compared with that of the membrane made out of only chitosan/PVA; meanwhile, the membrane also had a higher selectivity to EG. Moreover, the membrane also showed reliable stability under a test of up to 150 h, demonstrating its great potential in industrial applications.