Ion-exchange membranes made of semi-interpenetrating polymer networks,used for pervaporation-assisted esterification and ion transport

Ionic membranes were prepared by blending poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) with an ionic polymer. Semi-interpenetrating polymer networks (sIPN) in which the crosslinked PVA chains trap the ionic polymer were obtained by using a heat treatment at 180 °C or dibromoethane vapor at 140 °C, respectively, for poly (styrene sulfonic acid) (PSSH), poly (sodium styrene sulfonate) (PSSNa), poly (acrylic acid) (PAA) or poly (dimethyl dimethylene piperidinum chloride) (PDMeDMPCl) as the ionic polymer. The stability of the sIPN membranes in some liquid media was studied to select the appropriate membranes for the envisaged applications. The thermally crosslinked PVA/PSSH membranes showed an effective catalytic effect on the esterification reaction between n-propanol and propanoic acid. An active composite membrane made of a layer of PVA/PSSH deposited on a dense PVA layer of an industrial dehydration membrane exhibited both high catalytic activity and high selectivity to water in the pervaporation-assisted esterification. The values of the counter-ion transport number indicated that some crosslinked ionic membranes have good ion permselectivity.