Zeolite-filled
polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) mixed matrix membranes
(MMMs) were developed for pervaporation separation of n-butanol from dilute butanol–water solution. The effects of
zeolite, feed butanol concentration, and temperature were studied.
In general, the butanol separation factor increased with increasing
the temperature, whereas the fluxes increased with the reducing membrane
thickness and increasing feed butanol concentration and temperature.
At 47 °C, PDMS MMMs filled with 40 wt % zeolite gave the highest
separation factor of 77, which would reduce the energy consumption
for butanol recovery from 1.0 wt % butanol by ∼75% to ∼10
MJ/kg butanol using a hybrid pervaporation-distillation process compared
to distillation. The zeolite-filled PDMS MMM with a thickness of 10
μm would have a high butanol flux of 1000 g/m2·h
at 56 °C. With a high separation factor and butanol flux, the
zeolite-filled PDMS MMM would be advantageous for recovering n-butanol from dilute solution at significantly reduced
energy input and cost.
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