Transport properties of cellulose acetate osmotic membranes

Abstract Diffusion and distribution coefficients of water and sodium chloride have been measured in cellulose acetate osmotic membranes. These coefficients have been found to vary with the degree of acetylation of the cellulose ester. The diffusion coefficient of water varies from 5.7 × 10 −6 to 1.3 × 10 −6 cm. 2 /sec., and the diffusion coefficient of salt varies from 2.9 × 10 −8 to 3.9 × 10 −11 as the acetyl content is increased from 33.6 to 43.2 wt.‐%. A homogeneous diffusion model is proposed which describes the observations in terms of Fick's law.