Experimental survey of temperature, time and cross-linking agent effects on polydimethylsiloxane composite membranes performances in sulfur removal

Four types of the multi composite membranes were fabricated to decrease the sulfur content in diesel fuel, which the investigated polymers are polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), polyethyleneglycol (PEG), polyethersulfonic (PES) and cross-linked polyacrylonitrile (PAN) with tetra-ethyl-ortho-silicate (TEOS). The effects of the operating parameters such as the cross-linking temperature (65–85 °C) and cross-linking time (0.5–2.5 h) were studied on the membranes performances. The results showed that the sulfur selectivity of PDMS/PEG/PES/PAN membranes were improved through increasing temperature and time. In addition, most of the total flux and the lowest amount of sulfur in the back flow is related to composite membranes of PEG + PDMS.