| Pervaporation is a powerful separation technology for azeotropic and close boiling point mixtures. Membrane is the heart of pervaporation process. Therefore, the development of membrane materials is of great significance. In this thesis, both polymeric and mixed matrix membranes are designed for alcohol dehydration via pervaporation. Polymeric membranes are made from 6FDA-HAB/DABA polyimide, polyethersulfone, polyphenylsulfone, trimethylated polyethersulfone, hydrophilic polyethersulfone-co-Pluronic and crosslinked thermally rearranged polybenzoxazole. Mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) consist of UiO-66, UiO-66-NH2, UiO-66-F4 nanoparticles and 6FDA-HAB/DABA polyimide. Fundamental characteristics of chemical structure, thermal stability, free volume, d-spacing, water contact angle, water and alcohol uptakes were investigated and correlated with the dehydration performance. Long term performances were provided to reveal their good stability. The promising preliminary results suggest the great potential of the newly developed membranes for alcohol dehydration. This thesis may offer useful insights for the selection of membrane materials and new methods to molecularly design next-generation pervaporation membranes. |
