Influence of inorganic fillers on the compaction behaviour of porous polymer based membranes

The influence of TiO2 as inorganic filler in poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and polyamideimide (PAI) membranes on various permeation processes has been investigated. PAI/TiO2 membranes could be prepared without any post-treatment. Furthermore, PAI membranes with 40 wt.% TiO2 could withstand a temperature treatment at 180 °C with only minor decrease in fluxes. The pore size distribution of the thus treated membranes remained practically unchanged. PVDF/TiO2 membranes were clearly less susceptible to compaction than pure PVDF membranes during pressure treatment at 30 bar. Additionally, hydrophilic composite membranes with either PVDF or PVDF/TiO2 supports were tested in vapour permeation experiments for the dehydration of ethanol. The tests covering a temperature range from 78 °C (1 bar) to 135 °C (6.5 bar) revealed that the membranes with the organic–inorganic support showed significantly better permeate quality even at 135 °C accompanied by higher fluxes within the investigated temperature range.