Separation of phenol from aqueous solution by pervaporation using HTPB-based polyurethaneurea membrane

Hydroxyterminated polybutadiene (HTPB)-based polyurethane and polyurethaneurea (PUUSD) membranes were synthesized using 4,4′-diaminodiphenylsulfone (DADPS) as chain extender at varying concentrations. The pervaporation (PV) performances of the synthesized membranes were studied with 3% phenol water mixture as feed. The feed solution may be considered as a representative of phenol containing industrial wastewater. The variation of phenol selectivity and flux and other membrane boundary parameters were monitored. The membranes were observed to demonstrate high phenol permselectivity but offered a lower flux than that provided by the other polymer membranes used so far for phenol–water separation. Polyurethaneurea synthesized with 50 mol% diamine concentration showed about 97% phenol selectivity in permeate when pervaporation was carried out at 60 °C. The activation energies of phenol permeation were calculated for all membranes from Arrhenius plots.