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DEHYDRATION OF ALCOHOLS VIA PREVAPORATION USING A NOVEL HYDROPHILIC MEMBRANE
Citation:
Namboodiri**, V, Ponangi,R, AND L M. Vane*. DEHYDRATION OF ALCOHOLS VIA PREVAPORATION USING A NOVEL HYDROPHILIC MEMBRANE. Presented at No. American Membrane Society Annual Meeting, Jackson Hole, Wy, 05/12/2003.
Description:
Pervaporation has emerged as an economically viable alternative technology for the dehydration of organic solvents, removal of organic compounds from water and organic/organic separations. Development of a suitable membrane system with high flux and high selectivity plays a critical role in achieving practical utility composite membranes for the dehydration of alcohols via pervaporation. The novel membrane system to be describe here consists of a mixture of two hydrophilic polymers. Results obtained with mixed matrix membranes fabricated with nano-sized silicon oxide particles dispersed in a mixture of the hydrophilic polymers will be presented. The performance of these membranes was characterized by high water fluxes and high selectivity for water relative to the organic solvent. For examplem a 60 micron thick unsupported membrane delivered a water flux of 3.1 kg/m2hr and a water/2-propanol separation factor of 2900 for a feed liquid containing 14 wt% water at 70 deg C. These results match or exceed those of commercial pervaporation dehydration membranes, including recently commercialized 100% silica membranes. Dehydration performance of thinner, supported layers of our membrane should significantly exceed the performance of existing membranes. The effect of polymer type, relative composition of each polymer, and silica loading on membrane stability and performance is compared for the dehydration of 2-propanol on a pervaporation bench scale unit. The effects of various other parameters such a duration of membrane curing, feed temperature and feed water content will also be described.