Fabrication and characterization of nano hybrid cellulose acetate-nanoTiO2/crosslinked polyvinyl alcohol coated membrane for crude clove oil purification

Abstract

The application of membranes for clove oil purification has the potential to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of processing. The main problem that occurs is the polymer-based membranes tend to change in properties such as weakening, dissolving, and swelling when contact with clove oil. In this study, cellulose acetate membrane was developed with TiO2 nano-particles to reduce swelling effect and coating with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) to modify membrane surface. The membranes were prepared using dry-wet phase inversion method from dope solution with polymer concentration of 14–20 wt% and nano-particles of TiO2 with a concentration of 0–1.5 wt% in total solid. The formed membrane was coated with PVA with a concentration of 2–5 wt% crosslinked using glutaraldehyde. The SEM results show that prepared membrane are asymmetric membranes and show the coated layer of PVA on the surface. The FTIR spectra confirm that the PVA is successfully crosslinked and the addition of nano-particles TiO2 decreases the membrane swelling degree, significantly. In the addition of 0.5 wt% of nano-TiO2 can increase the flux from 0.54 to 0.66 L × m−2 × h−1 × bar−1. The coated membrane surface using PVA increases the selectivity of the membrane to produce clove oil permeates with eugenol content of 82.5 % from 68 %.