Preparation and Characterizationof Dense Membranes Based Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework (ZIF-8) For Separation: Aromatic—Aliphatic Mixture

Abstract

Separation of organic–organic liquid mixtures using membranes has been investigated extensively over the past several decades due to its great significance in the chemical 2- industry, with aromatic-alkane and alkane-alkene systems among the most studied. The latter is one of the most difficult to separate using a membrane process, but promising results have already been obtained for the former. However, even for these highly studied systems, pervaporation (PV) has not yet been attempted as an economical and simple alternative to organic-organic separation technologies. These liquid-liquid separations are still carried out by energy-consuming processes, such as rectification,azeotropic distillation or liquid-liquid separation. To overcome this problem, we decided to investigate the potential of mixed matrix membranes based on a low-cost technical polymer. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)-based mixed matrix membranes wereprepared with zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-8) particles, and the composite membranes were studied for the separation of toluene-heptane mixtures. It was found that the PVC transport properties could be significantly modified both by the amount and by the type of ZIF-8 incorporated.

Keywords: 

 Membrane,Composite,Separation, Polyvinyl chloride,ZIF 8.