Sorption prehistory of mass transfer and pervaporation

The sorption capacity of a polymeric pervaporation membrane for the target component can be substantially increased by its preliminary treatment with a substance having an increased affinity for the polymer. The key features of the sorption history have calculated from balance relations. It has been found that the flux of acetone during pervaporation through a polyamide-6 membrane modified by the preliminary sorption of water increased by an order of magnitude. The glass-transition temperature of the polyamide in water has been experimentally determined to be ∼50°C.