Pervaporation separation of butyric acid from aqueous and anaerobic digestion (AD) solutions using PEBA based composite membranes

Abstract

Polyether block amides (PEBA) composite membranes were prepared by dispersing different two dimensional (2D) layered nanomaterials such as graphene, graphene oxide and molybdenum disulphide (MoS2) in PEBA matrix. These composite membranes were applied for the pervaporation separation of butyric acid produced by anaerobic digestion (AD) of perennial grass. Among all the tested membranes PEBA–graphene membrane showed the best performance with butyric acid flux og 24.3 g/m2h and separation factor of 21. Further on varying the graphene content in the membranes showed improved separation efficiency with increased thermal and mechanical properties of the membranes.