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Overview of The Pervaporation Process

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18 views2 pages

Overview of The Pervaporation Process

Uploaded by

Elias Biramo
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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Overview of the Pervaporation Process

Pervaporation is a membrane based separation technology that is used to separate mixtures of


liquids. The membrane is partially permeable, allowing only one of the components to pass
through it. The component that passes through the membrane is known as the permeant whereas
the component that doesn’t pass through the membrane is known as the retentate. A vacuum is
created on the permeant side of the membrane to decrease pressure on this side. The decreased
pressure in turn results in a decrease in the boiling point of the permeant. The permeant
vaporizes as it passes through the membrane. The driving force is the chemical potential gradient
which is created as a result of the pressure gradient. The permeant passes through the membrane
as a result of its affinity to it. Thus, the choice of membrane materials is crucial to the
pervaporation process. The membrane should have affinity to the substance that is found in trace
amount. For instance, if we want to separate a trace of water from a mixture of ethanol and
water, we should use a hydrophilic membrane which has affinity to the water.
Figure 1
Membrane pervaporation is applied in many areas of the chemical industry. Some of its
applications include;
 Separation of traces of water from organics
 Separation of traces of organics from water
 Separation of mixtures with close boiling points
 Separation of azeotropic mixtures
 Separation of hydrocarbons from water
Pervaporation Membranes
As stated earlier, pervaporation membranes are a critical component of the pervaporation
process. The performance of pervaporation membranes determines the efficiency of the process
and directly affects the product quality and economic feasibility of the separation. Pervaporation
membranes are typically composed of organic or inorganic materials that possess specific
permeation properties for the particular separation process.
Polymeric Membranes
These are the most common ones in industry. They are used to separate substances based on their
molecular size or charge. Polymeric membranes have a network of interconnected pores, which
allow some substances to pass through while blocking others. They are commonly used in
various applications such as water treatment, gas separation, food processing, and medical
devices. Polymeric membranes come in different forms, including flat sheet membranes, hollow
fiber membranes, and tubular membranes, and can be fabricated using different techniques such
as phase inversion, electrospinning, and casting. Polymeric membranes have been extensively
studied and researchers are actively exploring different polymers and modification techniques to
enhance membrane performance.

Dehydration of Organics
Early development of pervaporation membranes for the removal of water from organic solvents
was mainly using hydrophilic membranes that would enhance the solubility selectivity of water
towards the membrane through hydrogen bonding interactions. However, these membranes are
susceptible to swell, crosslinking processes are generally employed to stabilize the membranes.
In recent years, research on pervaporation membranes for solvent dehydration applications has
shifted towards the exploration of new chemically and thermally stable materials to dehydrate
aggressive solvents at elevated operating temperatures. In this regard, polymers with stiff and
rigid chains have been considered as the promising candidates in this application. In addition, the
glassy characteristic of these polymers could improve the diffusivity selectivity of the
membranes during the dehydration process as the water molecule is smaller than most of the
organic molecules.
Recovery of Organics
Pervaporation becomes feasible in removal of organic compounds from aqueous solutions when
the concentration of organic compounds is relatively low. As opposed to dehydration, the
removal of dilute organic compounds from aqueous solutions via pervaporation process requires
the preferential permeation of organic compounds with larger molecule sizes through the
membrane. Hence, the membrane has to be made of organophilic or hydrophobic materials in
order to increase the affinity of organic compounds towards it. In addition, the application of
pervaporation in recovery of aroma compounds may become important in the future since it has
the advantage of low operating temperatures to avoid the degradation of these thermally labile
but highly valued compounds.

Organic-Organic Separations
Organic-organic separations via pervaporation process are the most challenging and the least
developed application. This may be due to the lack of robust membrane materials as well as the
modules that are able to withstand the long-term exposure of organic solvents. Recent studies in
this application have been focused on the separation of alcohols/tertiary butyl ethers and
aromatic/aliphatic compounds, and on gasoline desulfurization.

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