Binary vapour mixture permeation through the polymer of intrinsic microporosity PIM-1

This work deals with the vapour permeation of single species and their binary mixtures (alcohols - water, alcohol1 - alcohol2) through the polymer of intrinsic microporosity PIM-1 [1]. Measurements were carried out at a temperature of 298.15 K using a differential flow permeameter with carrier gas (H2) connected to a gas chromatograph and mass spectrometer [2]. This experimental set up allows precise quantitative determination of the composition of the permeate mixture and hence analysis of the steady state diffusion. In the case of binary mixture permeation through a PIM-1 flat membrane, the results revealed a strong effect of the second component on the permeation rate of the first component - positive and negative coupling effect (Fig. 1). While the ethanol in the etha- nol - butanol mixture had lower fluxes in comparison with the single species permeation, the butanol under the same conditions had fluxes higher than those of single vapours. Figure 1: Permeability of ethanol (left) and butanol (right) single vapours (open symbols) and their mixtures penetrating through the PIM-1 membrane [1]P. M. Budd, N. B. McKeown, et al. Gas permeation parameters and other physicochemical properties of a polymer of intrinsic microporosity: Polybenzodioxane PIM-1, J. Membr. Sci., 325 (2008) 851-860. [2]K. Friess, J. C. Jansen, O. Vopi?ka, A. Randová, V. Hynek, M. ?ípek, L. Bartovská, P. Izák, M. Dingemans, J. Dewulf, H. Van Langenhove, E. Drioli, Comparative study of sorption and permeation techniques for the determination of heptane and toluene transport in polyethylene membranes, J. Membr. Sci., 338 (2009) 161-174. Acknowledgement The work leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° NMP3-SL-2009-228631, project DoubleNanoMem. The authors are also thankful for financial support of the Grant Agency of Czech Republic (Grant No. 106/10/1194).