para-Toluene sulfonic acid treated clay loaded sodium alginate membranes for enhanced pervaporative dehydration of isopropanol

The para-toluene sulfonic acid (p-TSA) treated clay (5, 10 and 15 wt.% loadings) particles were inserted into sodium alginate (NaAlg) matrix to derive the composite membranes that showed enhanced pervaporation performance for isopropanol separation. The 10 wt.% modified clay-loaded NaAlg membranes showed the highest selectivity of 5781 with a permeance of 3423 GPU for 10 wt.% water containing isopropanol feed mixture at 30 °C, showing a 140% higher selectivity compared to pristine clay-loaded NaAlg composite membrane. This effect is ascribed to an enhanced surface area and hydrophilicity after p-TSA treatment of clay, as verified by BET and TGA studies. The membranes were characterized by a variety of physico-chemical techniques and their pervaporation performance was assessed in terms of selectivity, permeance, with extent of variations in filler loading, temperature and feed water composition.