PH-controlled uphill transport of boric acid through a poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) membrane

The uphill transport of boric acid in aqueous solutions through a thermal-crosslinked poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) membrane was investigated. A normal permeation caused by the concentration difference of the boron along the PVA membrane was observed for equal pH conditions at both sides of the membrane, and higher flux was observed under an acidic condition at pH = 5.0 than under a basic condition at pH = 10.0. When the pH of one side is kept pH = 5.0 (acid side) and the other side was kept at pH = 10.0 (base side), uphill transport of boric acid from the acid side to the base side was observed under an equal initial concentration of both sides. Such an uphill transport was also observed against the concentration difference under the condition in which the initial concentration of the base side was higher than that of the acid side. The uphill transport could be explained by the difference in the permeation rates through the PVA membrane between B(OH)(3) the dominant form under lower pH, and B(OH)(4)(-), the dominant form under higher pH, which makes a complex with diols in PVA. (c) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.