Facile membrane upscaling via in-situ synthesis of PVA hydrogel for harsh solvent separation: From transport study to industrial application

• In-situ PVA hydrogel synthesis enabled scalable membrane fabrication for harsh solvent pervaporation . • Detail transport study was conducted to understand superior water permeability through expanded hydrophilic free volume. • The s-HPGA module achieved recovery of the ECH and IPA almost 98%. • Robust stability of the module was verified from 200 hr cyclic feed enrichment pervaporation test. • By addressing challenges in membrane upscaling, our findings bridged laboratory-scale to industrial applications. In this study, a facile upscaled membrane module was developed using an in-situ hydrogel synthesis technique for the selective removal of water from harsh organic solvent mixtures by pervaporation. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) was chosen as the hydrophilic membrane material due to its ease of chemical modification and high processible film-forming stability. A porous α-alumina hollow fiber was used as a support, and an in-situ hydrogel reaction with glutaraldehyde was employed to form a uniform selective layer without the penetration issues commonly faced during conventional membrane fabrication. It was found that the synthesized hydrogel (s-HPGA) exhibited improved water permeation performance resulting from the mechanically expanded free volume within the membrane matrix and uncommon diffusive properties verified by diffusivity modeling. The effectiveness of the fabricated s-HPGA membrane modules was demonstrated through a cyclic pervaporation test involving an epoxy manufacturing by-product mixture. The results showed that the module achieved stable performance and efficient water separation over 200 h of operation with a recovery rate of over 98%. In addition, the field application test demonstrated that the s-HPGA membrane module is well-suited for industrial applications requiring solvent enrichment and efficient dehydration.