2026-05-05T20:20:43Zhttps://uvadoc.uva.es/oai/request

oai:uvadoc.uva.es:10324/790602025-10-27T20:05:48Zcom_10324_38col_10324_787

Muñoz González, Pedro Martín Álvarez, José Miguel Tena Matias, Alberto Universidad de Valladolid. Facultad de Ciencias The increasing demand for sustainable energy solutions has intensified the focus on bioethanol production as a renewable fuel alternative. However, the energy-intensive distillation process for water-alcohol separation remains a significant challenge in bioethanol purification. This study explores the development and characterization of thin-film composite membranes (TFCMs) for efficient water-alcohol separation, aiming to provide a more energyefficient alternative to traditional methods. The membranes were evaluated under varying conditions of temperature (20°C, 30°C, 40°C, and 50°C) for their performance in separating water from methanol, ethanol, and isopropanol. Results demonstrated that the permeance of water remained dominant at higher temperatures (40°C and 50°C), highlighting the membranes' suitability for selective water removal in bioethanol purification processes. In contrast, alcohols such as methanol and ethanol exhibited higher permeance at lower temperatures (20°C and 30°C), indicating the membranes’ tunable selectivity based on operating conditions. The study further revealed the time-dependent behavior of permeance, with alcohols experiencing a rapid decline in transport efficiency before stabilizing, while water maintained consistent performance over extended periods. This dynamic underscore the membranes' potential for long-term industrial applications with appropriate optimization. Overall, the developed membranes show promise for enhancing the efficiency of wateralcohol separation, contributing to the advancement of energy-efficient bioethanol production technologies. Future research is recommended to explore mixed water-alcohol systems and investigate membrane stability under real-world conditions. 2025-10-27 2025-10-27 2025 info:eu-repo/semantics/masterThesis https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/79060 eng info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internacional