In-Line Measurement of Water Content in Ethanol Using a PVA-Coated Quartz Crystal Microbalance

Sensors

Byoung Chul Kim²  Takuji Yamamoto¹ 

[1] Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Hyogo, Himeji 671-2201, Japan; E-Mail:;Department of Chemical Engineering, Dong-A University, Pusan 604-714, Korea; E-Mail:

关键词: quartz crystal microbalance;    water content in ethanol;    PVA-coated sensor;   

DOI  :  10.3390/s140101564

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

An in-line device for measuring the water content in ethanol was developed using a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-coated quartz crystal microbalance. Bio-ethanol is widely used as the replacement of gasoline, and its water content is a key component of its specifications. When the PVA-coated quartz crystal microbalance is contacted with ethanol containing a small amount of water, the water is absorbed into the PVA increasing the load on the microbalance surface to cause a frequency drop. The determination performance of the PVA-coated microbalance is examined by measuring the frequency decreases in ethanol containing 2% to 10% water while the ethanol flows through the measurement device. The measurements indicates that the higher water content is the more the frequency reduction is, though some deviation in the measurements is observed. This indicates that the frequency measurement of an unknown concentration of water in ethanol can be used to determine the water content in ethanol. The PVA coating is examined by microscopy and FTIR (Fourier transform infrared) spectroscopy.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.