Separation of Water/Ethanol Vapor Mixtures through Chitosan and Crosslinked Chitosan Membranes

Abstract

The separation of water/ethanol vapor mixtures through chitosan membranes and crosslinked chitosan membranes was studied by means of the vapor permeation technique. The permeation performance was discussed in terms of separation factor and permeation flux. Crosslinking the chitosan membrane by glutaraldehyde enhanced the selectivity. The highest separation factor obtained was 6000 for a crosslinked chitosan membrane with a degree of deacetylation of 100%.