Separation Performance of Improved PERVAPTM Membrane and Its Dependence on Operating Conditions

By using binary ethanol/water mixtures, the separation performance of two improved commercial pervaporation embranes (PERVAPTM) are presented. Separation performance data are analyzed and compared as a function of operating conditions. The effect of initial feed concentration on the separation performance and the effect of feed concentration on apparent activation energy are presented. For membranes that swell, we show that permeance values and selectivity are also dependent on operating conditions. In addition, the results show the importance of initial feed concentration in pervaporation tests. Arbitrary initial feed concentrations lead to different separation performance. Nevertheless, this membrane feature can be used for tuning the final separation performance.