Natural polymers have attracted a lot of interest in researchers of late as they are environmentally friendly, biocompatible, and possess excellent characters. Membranes forming natural polymers have provided a whole new dimension to the separation technology. In this work, chitosan-gelatin blend membranes were fabricated using chitosan as the base and varying the amount of gelatin. Transport, mechanical, and surface characteristics of the fabricated membranes were examined in detail by means of the characterizing techniques such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning colorimetry, wide angle X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, and thermogravimetric analysis. In order to analyze the water affinity of the developed blend chitosan-gelatin membranes, the percentage degree of swelling was examined. Out of the fabricated membranes, the membrane loaded with 15 mass% of gelatin exhibited the better pervaporation performance with a pervaporation separation index value of 266 at 30 °C for the solution containing 10% in terms of the mass of water, which is the highest among the contemporary membranes. All the fabricated membranes were stable during the pervaporation experiments, and permeation flux of water for the fabricated membranes was dominant in the overall total permeation flux, signifying that the developed membranes could be chosen for efficient separation of water–isopropanol mixture on a larger scale.

Tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS)-crosslinked poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) solution was prepared and treated with benzaldehyde 2 sulphonic sodium salt acid (B2SA) for sulfonation. Different contents of graphene were incorporated into B2SA-grafted PVA–TEOS hybrid membrane to improve the membrane stability, mechanical strength, and overall pervaporation performance of the membranes. Membranes were fabricated using the casting technique. Developed membranes were then analyzed for their physicochemical changes by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), scanning electron microscope (SEM), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), contact angle analysis (CA), and mechanical strength. The lower d-spacing value observed in WAXD was evidence for the decreased inter-chain distance between the polymer chains. DSC exhibited the enhanced thermal stability of the developed membranes compared to the plane PVA membrane with enhancement in T_g value (106 °C), which was well above the pervaporation experimental temperature. Incorporation of graphene induced higher mechanical strength to the fabricated membranes. Further, the membranes were tested for the pervaporation separation of bioethanol. All the membranes were stable throughout the pervaporation studies, with M-2 G showing the total permeation flux of 11.66 × 10⁻² kg/(m² h) at 30 °C.

Zirconium alloys are used extensively by the nuclear industry as reactor core components. In pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs) zirconium-niobium alloy pressure tubes (also called coolant channels) are used with D₂O as the primary heat transport fluid. Due to continuous usage of the pressure tubes inside the reactor, heavy ingress of deuterium into the pressure tubes due to corrosion reactions could occur resulting in hydrogen (or deuterium) embrittlement. Aging management therefore requires that this deuterium pick-up rate should be quantified for the remedial measures to be taken for the smooth operation of the reactor. For this purpose, a hot vacuum extraction-quadrupole mass spectrometry (HVE-QMS) technique has been developed in our laboratory. Experimental conditions like temperature, time of extraction of liberated gases, and measurement methodology have been optimized. Sensitivity factors have been derived for quantification of analytical results. Precision of the methodology was found to be 10%. Also, detailed studies have been carried out on the formation of hydrogen (or deuterium) molecular ion ( ) in QMS as a function of pressure in the measurement system and its possible effect on the results.