title: Effect of trace amounts of water on organic solvent transport through gamma-alumina membranes with varying pore sizes.
abstract: The transport behavior of toluene and n-hexane in gamma-alumina membranes with different pore diameters was studied. It was shown that the permeability of water-lean hexane and toluene is in agreement with Darcy's law down to membrane pore diameters of 3.5 nm. The presence of molar water fractions of 5-8 x 10(-4) in these solvents led to a permeability decrease of the gamma-alumina layer by a factor of 2-4 depending on pore size. In general, a lower permeability was found for hexane than for toluene. Moreover, in the presence of water a minimum applied pressure of 0.5-1.5 bar was required to induce net liquid flow through the membrane. These phenomena were interpreted in terms of capillary condensation of water in membrane pores with a size below a certain critical diameter. This is thought to lead to substantial blocking of these pores for transport, so that the effective tortuosity of the membrane for transport of hydrophobic solvents increases.
authors.affiliation: Inorganic Materials Science, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology & Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Sankhanilay Roy
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Chowdhury
authors.forename: Klaas
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Keizer
authors.forename: Johan E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: ten Elshof
authors.forename: Dave H A
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Blank