Thin high flux ceramic-supported PVA membranes

in water concentration. The smaller alcohols, ethanol and 1-propanol, show the trade-off that is generally observed for polymer membranes, i.e., an increase in flux is combined with a decrease in separation factor. A possible explanation for this remarkable behaviour is a low degree of three-dimensional Thin ceramic-supported PVA membranes have been prepared by the dip-coating technique. The membranes show high performance in the dehydration of alcohols. For 1-butanol and 2-propanol a simultaneous increase in flux and selectivity is observed, while for ethanol and 1-propanol the general trade-off between flux and selectivity is observed. An explanation for (a) (b) (c) (d) Fig. 2. Water flux and selectivity in the dehydration of aqueous alcohol mixtures, influence of temperature, membrane TNO-PVA-4a: (a) ethanol, 10 wt.% water; (b) 1-propanol, 5 wt.% water; (c) 2-propanol, 5 wt.% water; (d) 1-butanol, 5 wt.% water.