Pervaporation separation of MeOH/MTBE through agarose membranes

In this study, pervaporation separation of MeOH/MTBE was investigated by using natural polymer, agarose, as a membrane material. The membranes from agarose permeated MeOH from MeOH/MTBE mixtures by pervaporation. Permselectivity toward MeOH reached over 9×105. From pervaporation and sorption data, the permselectivity is due to both solubility selectivity and diffusivity selectivity.