Pervaporation Separation of Water-Acetic Acid Mixtures Through Poly(vinyl alcohol) Membranes Crosslinked with Glutaraldehyde

Poly(vinyl alcohol)(PVA) membranes crosslinked with Glutaraldehyde (GA) were prepared for the separation of acetic acid-water mixtures. For the preparation of the crosslinked membranes, dry PVA films were immersed for 2 days at 40$\circ$C in reaction solutions which contain different content of GA solution(25% GA in water), aceton and a catalyst, HCl. IR spectroscopy was employed to characterize the crosslinking reaction between hydroxyl groups in PVA and aldehyde groups in GA. Swelling measurements of the crosslinked membranes were carried out in both water and acetic acid to investigate the crosslinking density and swelling behaviour of the membranes.