Ethanol?water azeotropic solution cannot be processed and purified beyond 95.6% by volume using distillation. Common methods for obtaining absolute ethanol include desiccation, using adsorbents such as starch , corn grits, or zeolites, which adsorb water preferentially, as well as azeotropic distillation and extractive distillation. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in separation of azeotropic solutions using pervaporation (PV) using membrane processes to avoid the high-energy costs and the disadvantages of other techniques. However, prevalent distillation techniques have not been replaced by PV due to the failure to develop adequate membranes. A suitable membrane is one, which exhibits high selectivity and permeability and can tolerate high pressure gradient, which is the driving force for PV performance. Zeolite membrane’s characteristics can be summarized as high selectivity, permeability and physical stability, beside high sensitivity to thermal tensions and difficulties in synthesis and operation. Polymeric membranes are cheaper and usually have low sensitivity to thermal tensions and unfortunately low permeability and physical stability. To gather desirable characteristics of these two major types in one membrane, the best solution is a composite membrane consists of a polymeric active layer on a porous ceramic support. Ceramic supports exhibit a high surface porosity and superior structural stability in comparison with polymeric supports. Polymeric membranes are prepared from different polymers. Good chemical stability and low manufacturing cost of polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) have interested it to use in dehydration of ethanol by PV . In the present work, ceramic-supported PVAc composite membranes were prepared for pervaporation dehydration of ethanol. Layers of PVAc, loaded with fumed silica, were coated on porous ceramic supports. Tubular mullite ceramic supports were fabricated with the length, inner and outer diameters of 300, 14 and 10 mm, respectively. To prepare the coating solution, PVAc was dissolved in methanol at temperature of 60 °C, and then stirred for a while to form a homogeneous solution. As in the experimental design, various weight percentage amounts of fumed silica were added to the solution. In situ crosslinking was performed by adding Glutharaldehyde (GA) and hydrochloric acid to the solution and stirring for 1 hr. Pervaporation dehydration of 90 wt% of ethanol was performed at temperatures of 30, 45 and 60 °C. The parameters affecting membrane preparation were the concentration of PVAc solution (varying from 4 wt% to 8 wt%) and amount of fumed silica (varying from 0 to 9 wt%). With increasing PVAc concentration, permeability was decreased while selectivity was increased. With increasing fumed silica content, permeability was increased while selectivity was decreased. It was also found that the separation factor decreases with increasing feed temperature and feed water content, while the permeation flux increases. The best pervaporation performance was obtained by permeation flux and separation factor of 7.2 Kg.m -2 .h -1 and 2.42, respectively, under conditions of 90 wt% ethanol and 8 wt% PVAc in feed at 60 ?C. Keywords : PVAc, Composite membrane, Ceramic supports, silica fume, Pervaporation, ethanol