Sodium alginate and hydroxyethylcellulose blend membranes were prepared by solution casting, crosslinked with glutaraldehyde and urea-formaldehyde-sulfuric acid mixture. Crosslinking was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, while the blend compatibility was studied by differential scanning calorimetry and scanning electron microscopy. Membranes were tested for pervaporation separation of feed mixtures ranging from 10 to 50 mass% water in water + 1,4-dioxane and water + tetrahydrofuran mixtures at 30 degrees C. For 10 mass% of the feed mixture, pervaporation experiments were also carried out at higher temperatures (40 and 50 degrees C). By increasing the temperature, a slight increase in flux with a considerable decrease in selectivity was observed for all the membranes and for both the mixtures. The blend membranes exhibited different pervaporation performance for both the binary mixtures investigated. For water + 1,4-dioxane mixture, the pervaporation performance did not improve much after blending, whereas for water + tetrahydrofuran mixture, the pervaporation performance has improved considerably over that of plain sodium alginate membrane. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.