In this study, pervaporation separation of MeOH/MTBE was investigated by us
ing natural polymer, agarose, as a membrane material. The membranes from ag
arose permeated MeOH from MeOH/MTBE mixtures by pervaporation. Permselectiv
ity toward MeOH reached over 9x10(5). From pervaporation and sorption data,
the permselectivity is due to both solubility selectivity and diffusivity
selectivity. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.