Abstract:
The objective of the thesis was to study the ability of carbonized polyimide membranes in ethanol
dehydration. The carbonized membrane was synthesized from Kapton? Polyimide. The carbonized
temperature was varied from 600 to 800 ํC. During the carbonization, the Kapton? Polyimide was
carbonized under nitrogen atmosphere with the nitrogen flow rate of 50 ml/min. The pervaporation
experiments were carried out at 60 ํC with 95%wt ethanol feed concentration. On the permeate side,
dty air was fed at the rate of 50 ml/min. The penneate flux obtained from the membrane pyrolyzed
at 600,700 and 800 ํC were 0.41,0.16 and 0.17 kg/m2hr, respectively while the separation factors
were 8606,921 and 694, respectively. Results from Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) revealed
that the pyrolysis at high temperature increased the deformation of membrane.