Pervaporation Separation of Toluene-Heptane Mixtures with Polyvinyl chloride/ Alumina/ Activated Carbon Membranes

Abstract

This paper explores the fabrication of high performance & low-cost Membrane by incorporation of alumina and activated carbon in Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) matrix using phase inversion technique. This study examined the various effects of the alumina (Al₂O₃) and activated carbon (C) on the PVC matrix by several analytical techniques such as scanning electron microscope (SEM), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), and contact angle. The synthesized membranes were used to separation of toluene from toluene-heptane mixtures using pervaporation technique and analysed the mass fraction of toluene in the permeate collected in the pervaporation setup using refractive index method.  The results showed that the PVC/ 50% activated carbon/ 50% alumina membrane would be a promising alternative for separation of toluene from heptane-toluene solution. As an outcome, PVC/activated carbon/alumina-based membrane has given better separation of toluene from heptane-toluene solution as compared to other synthesized membrane.