Preparation, characterization and performance evaluation of separation of alcohol using crosslinked membrane materials

In the present study the glutaraldehyde-crosslinked chitosan membrane (GXCM) was prepared and chiral resolution of (R,S)-2-amino-1-butanol (2A1B) was performed. The membrane was analyzed by Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) for its chemical composition. The morphology of the membrane was studied by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and correlated with membrane performance. The performance of the GXCM membrane was quantified by performing chiral resolution of (R,S)-2-amino-1-butanol in pressure driven separation and the influences of permeation parameters such as operating pressure, concentration of feed solutions, concentration of copper(II) ions were investigated to understand the chiral selectivity of the membrane. The optical resolution of (R,S)-2-amino-1-butanol racemic mixture, 92% of enantiomeric excess (% ee) was achieved. The separation ability of the above crosslinked membrane was also investigated, and a separation factor of up to 5.6 was achieved.