Poly (ether block amide) membranes with hyper-crosslinked polymer fillers for enhanced pervaporation of phenol aqueous solutions

Pervaporation (PV) is considered one of the most industrially potential phenol wastewater treatment technologies because of its advantages such as high efficiency and without regeneration. PV membrane performance is a key factor that determines its industrial applicability. Here, polymer-filler-based mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) are proposed to enhance the membrane performance for pervaporation of phenol aqueous solutions. First, three hyper-crosslinked polymer (HCP) fillers were synthesized via the Friedel–Crafts reaction between benzyl alcohol (BA) and a penta-heterocyclic compound, such as furan (Fu), and analyzed by different characterizations. All the fillers exhibited desirable properties such as high phenol adsorption capacity and excellent hydrophobicity. Subsequently, different MMMs were fabricated by incorporating the HCP fillers into poly (ether block amide) (PEBA-2533) for the separation of phenol aqueous solutions. The Fu/BA-HCP@PEBA-2533 MMM was selected for further investigation as it afforded the highest separation factor of 72.2 and a flux of 2.07 kg/(m 2 ·h) at 70 °C for the separation of a 1.5 wt.% phenol aqueous solution. The diffusion and solubility coefficients were measured. The effects of different operating conditions on the membrane performance and long-term stability were studied, and the results for the pervaporation of phenol aqueous solutions were compared with previously reported data. Investigating the effects of diverse polymer fillers and their compatibility with polymers on the fabrication and performance of MMMs will be a prospective future research direction.