Pervaporation separation of an azeotropic mixture of a tetrahydrofuran–water system with nanostructured polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane embedded poly(vinyl alcohol).

Cage ‐ structured polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) molecules were used as modifiers in the fabrication of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) membrane for the separation of an azeotropic mixture of tetrahydrofuran (THF) and water system. Poly(ethylene glycol) and anionic octa(tetramethyl ammonium)‐functionalized POSS were used for this study. The membranes exhibited excellent water selectivity and permeance because of their preferential interactions toward water molecules in the azeotropic THF–water mixture. In the presence of poly(ethylene glycol)–POSS and anionic octa(tetramethyl ammonium)–POSS, the PVA membrane exhibited a significant increase in selectivity. A modified Maxwell–Stefan equation was used for the computation of the theoretical flux, which was compared with the experimental values. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019, 136, 47060. Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) containing cage structured polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) molecules as modifier to fabricate a membrane for the separation of azeotropic mixture of tetrahydrofuran (THF) ‐ water system. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) and anionic‐octa(tetramethylammonium) (Octa‐TMA) functionalized polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) were employed for the present study. The membranes exhibited excellent water selectivity and permeance due to the preferential interaction of membrane towards water molecule in the azeotropic THF‐ water mixture. In the presence of PEG‐POSS and Octa‐TMA‐POSS, PVA membrane exhibited a significant increase in selectivity. Modified Maxwell‐ Stefan equation was used for the computation of theoretical flux and was compared with the experimental values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]