Influence of Thermal Treatment on the Separation Properties of Polyamide Membrane

Membranes have a huge application in the industry nowadays. Their cost effective and
efficiency further make the demand for membranes increases. In ensuring the
effectiveness of membrane applications, continuous monitoring enhancement had to be
done. Integrally-skinned asymmetric polyamide-6 membranes were prepared by casting
various solution of polymer concentration from 10wt% to 20wt%, in 85wt.% formic acid
onto a glass plate and precipitation in inert atmosphere before it would bethen immersed
in cold distilled water until it peeled off.. The obtained membranes were dried for 1 h at
different temperatures ranging from 40 to 130°C. The pervaporation separation properties
of such treated membranes were studied with binary water-ethanol mixtures consisting of
40wt% ethanol. Experimental tests procedure will be using the GC equipment, which
suitable for typical laboratory-scale testing. The selectivity was improved by thermal
treatment of the membranes at temperatures above the glass transition temperature T% of
polyamide-6 (~60°C). However, the permeate flux decreased with increasing drying
temperature due to the removal of entrapped water from amorphous domains, the
formation of newcrystalline domains andthe decrease of the pore sizeandof the specific
surface area during the thermal treatment. The study of the physical properties of the
polyamide-6 membrane will be characterized by using the assistance of existing physical
and mechanical testing equipments available such as SEM and DMA.