Pervaporation separation of ethyl butyrate and isopropanol with polyether block amide (PEBA) membranes

Polyether block amide (PEBA) membranes were prepared by the solution casting technique. The membranes were investigated for the pervaporation separation of isopropanol–water and ethyl butyrate–water mixtures. The effects of feed concentration and temperature on the separation performance of the membranes were studied. The overall performance of pervaporation separation was evaluated in term of the pervaporation separation index (PSI), which is a composite parameter combining permeation flux and separation factor. It was shown that under the same operating conditions, the pervaporation separation of aqueous ethyl butyrate solution was more efficient than the separation of aqueous isopropanol solutions. It was observed that both permeation flux and separation factor increased with an increase in feed ethyl butyrate content, while an increase in temperature resulted in an increase in permeation flux and a reduction in separation factor.