Organic solvent removal by pervaporation membrane technology: experimental and simulation

Area of Science:

• Chemical Engineering
• Materials Science

Background:

• Pervaporation (PV) is a low-energy separation technique.
• Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is a suitable rubbery polymer for membrane-based separations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To purify cyclohexane using PDMS membranes in a pervaporation process.
• To investigate the effect of feed concentration on the separation factor.
• To develop and validate a mechanistic model for mass transfer prediction.

Main Methods:

• Utilized polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membranes for pervaporation (PV).
• Investigated the impact of feed concentration on separation performance.
• Developed a two-dimensional mechanistic model to simulate mass transfer.

Main Results:

• Achieved effective dehydration of an 80 wt% cyclohexane mixture at 300 K and 10 mmHg.
• Obtained a high separation factor of 2500 for cyclohexane purification.
• Model predicted maximum mass transfer flux near the feed channel inlet.

Conclusions:

• PDMS membranes are effective for cyclohexane purification via PV.
• Optimized process conditions yielded a high separation factor.
• The mechanistic model accurately describes mass transfer phenomena in the PV module.