| Abstract: | Separation of components of aqueous waste streams containing organic pollutants is not only industrially very important but also is a challenging process. In this study, separation of a phenol–water mixture was carried out by using a membrane pervaporation technique with indigenously developed polyimide membranes. The membranes were found to permeate water selectively. The total flux as well as that of the individual components were measured. The effect of lithium chloride modification of polyimide film on total flux was investigated. The total flux obtained with 2% lithium chloride modification was about 3.6 times higher than that obtained with virgin membrane. The effects of different parameters such as feed composition and temperature on flux, and separation factor were determined. With modified membrane, a separation factor as high as 18.0 was obtained for water at 27°C and with 8.0 wt % phenol solution. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 83: 822–829, 2002 |
