Removal of Volatile Organic Compounds from Water by Pervaporation Using Polyetherimide-Polyethersulfone Blend Hollow Fiber Membranes

Abstract Removal of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as 1,2-dichloroethane, trichloroethylene, chlorobenzene and toluene from water solutions through polyetherimide (PEI)-polyethersulfone (PES) blend hollow fiber membranes was investigated by pervaporation (PV) in this work. The separation performances of the membranes were researched by varying the spinning conditions (such as coagulation temperature and air gap distance) for the preparation of the hollow fibers and the operation conditions (such as velocity, concentration, and temperature of feed liquids). For the PEI-PES blend hollow fiber membrane prepared when the air gap was 7 cm and the temperature of coagulation bath was 45°C, it possessed high selectivity to the aqueous solutions containing 0.04 wt.% of VOCs at 20°C. The separation factors to 1,2-dichloroethane, trichloroethylene, chlorobenzene and toluene were 7069, 5759, 3952, and 3205, respectively. It was found that the pervaporation performance of the blend hollow fiber membrane was st...